After the Storm
by Leto
Summary: All the adventures are over, and it's time to go home... a home that feels strangely alien. Yet there are still new discoveries for the digidestined to make about themselves and the digiworld. This fic focuses on the kids' lives post-digiworld.
1. "This is the world we were missing?"

After the Storm If you've seen this fic on my own site or via the Digimon fanfic list, you might notice it has been split into larger parts. (Actually, probably nobody noticed that at all. ^_^.) Anyway, basically, this has only been split into parts so that I won't get the continual "not enough memory!" message on my screen. ^_^;; And I guess it's more convenient... really, this is a short story (which kind of snowballed into a Rather Large Fic by my standards), I'm not writing it in chapters but as one big slab which I have to cut up.

Anyway, now that that's settled, on with the fic. I wrote some of the earlier parts without having seen some of the later episodes, but turns out I didn't write much that was in major conflict. I won't keep you any longer. I won't insult your intelligence; you know Digimon doesn't belong to me. If it did you'd see this on TV instead of humbly published on the 'net. :P

**After the Storm**  
by [Leto][1]  
Part 1 - "This is the world we were missing?"

"I think if we could manage to stay friends and not rip each other's throats out when we were under a lot of stress and danger, then it's going to be easy to stay friends in the real world."

Sora said that, when they were on the journey of returning to their world but not quite there. All of them were shaken by losing their best friends, and unsure about what it would be like to adjust to real life again.

Everyone nodded and made affirmative sounds, but without much conviction - still, wanting to believe Sora's words. They were all so different, and the real world - and what it demanded of them - such a contrast. 

And what it came down to was that in the digital world, pretenses didn't matter - they were dangerous, foolish, useless. There was no point and no benefit in pretending to be other than what you were; if you wanted to shout, you shouted, if you had to cry, you cried, if you felt like breaking down, you could, and know that your friends would help piece you back together. Because they all knew how it felt. 

This wasn't usually the case in the real world. Parents, and classmates, and teachers, all wanting you to act a certain way - a lot of other people and other forces at work. 

The trolley car began to disappear beneath their feet, and suddenly they were all standing on solid ground. The Highton View Terrace bridge. The last lights faded, the car was nothing, and it was a normal, slightly overcast day in the city. 

"They rebuilt the city so fast!" exclaimed Mimi. Everyone stared in silence; it was true - the bridge was solid and complete, the streets around in a good state with lines striping down the centre. Not the rubble, torn-up bitumen and general state of ruin that had been the case last time they were there. 

"I wonder what date it is," said Izzy. 

"Maybe since we beat all the evil Digimon, the effects on the real world disappeared," said Kari doubtfully. 

"I don't think we'd be so lucky," said Joe. 

"Maybe we went back in time to before we went to the Digiworld," said Tai, "it's happened before." 

"But we spent a few days in our world last time we came back," said Sora, "do you really think those days could just disappear? We know the digital world is real, even if we can't go there any more." 

Matt hadn't said anything, just leaned over the railing, looking at the street below, the scene of the battle that for him was months ago. He narrowed his eyes, seeming to seek some detail. 

"What're you looking at, Matt?" asked TK, touching his arm. 

Matt straightened and pointed at a nearby building. 

"See that?" he said, "the side of that building was smashed in the battle, right?" 

"Yeah, so what?" asked Tai, "it looks okay now." 

"To you, maybe. But look more closely. See that window there? And a bit further down, it looks like half the bricks have been repainted and half haven't." 

The others looked rather blank, but Izzy snapped his fingers. "I think I catch your drift," he said, "I recommend we go into town where we fought Venomyotismon." 

"We're still doing all this sort of thing?" complained Mimi, "I thought when we came home we'd be through with all this 'going to investigate'! I want to go home and have a nice bubble bath and change clothes and lie on the bed listening to some nice music!" 

"You can go home if you want," said Izzy calmly, "but I think it's imperitive that at least one of us finds out what happened while we were gone - if we were gone at all." 

"What do you mean 'if we were gone'?! If I wasn't gone, would my hair look like this? I mean, I didn't even have hairspray!" 

The others rolled their eyes and grinned a bit, and began to move off, rather glad to have this new investigation to take their mind off the enormity of all that had happened that day - and leaving their Digimon. 

Mimi squawked. "Hey you guys! Wait for me!" 

*** 

"It seems you were right, Matt," said Izzy. 

The group stood staring at the scene. A building that had once been there had disappeared altogether. A few temporary buildings - almost like large caravans - were set up here and there, and there was rennovation of another building happening, with tell-tale scaffolding and cranes in various positions around it. Some of the other buildings that had been damaged were fully repaired. There was no sign of rubble, and the streets themselves seemed in a solid condition. 

"Well, at least we know the fight really did happen," said Tai, "we're not cracking up at least." 

"I don't know about YOU, Tai," Matt couldn't help saying, "but yeah, guess it did happen." 

"So how did they fix everything so fast?" asked Sora, repeating Mimi's earlier question, "time runs so much slower in the real world." 

Izzy shrugged his laptop off his back and was soon booting up. After a moment, he was typing away as usual. He let out a cry of disbelief instead of his usual triumph. 

"All the files I composed and downloaded in the digital world are GONE!" 

"If it weren't for what we can see here, it would almost seem like we never went there at all," said Joe. 

They walked on a little way - Izzy balancing his laptop on one arm and frantically trying to find something useful with the other - looking for some sign, some clue. People walked along the streets as though it were just a normal day. 

"TK!" 

There was a flurry, a sharp movement to their left, and everyone turned. From the crowd pushed a young lady, Mrs Takaishi - or Matt and TK's mother. Behind her came two other women - Mrs Takenouchi and Mrs Kamiya. 

The kids stared, surprised at the coincidence, but only for a second. Mrs Takaishi had rushed to envelope TK, and Kari, Tai and Sora ran into their mothers' arms. Mrs Takaishi nudged one of her arms around Matt, pulling him closer to her, both her sons to her chest. Matt scowled, looking as though he would rather be somewhere else (or pretending he did?), yet he didn't attempt to disentangle himself. 

For a few wonderful moments, before the inevitable flood of questions, some tears, and explanations, they all remembered the reason they had gone to the Digiworld, and the reason they had come back. Even Izzy suddenly wanted to get home to his own parents instead of staying to find out what happened. 

*** 

And the explanations did come later. All of the children's parents - and Joe's older brother - met at the Takenouchi's house that night for dinner. After the meal, and clearing the dishes, everyone sat around in the living room, looking at each other, not sure where to start. 

"I really have to ask," said Izzy, his curiousity beating the silence, "what happened when we were gone? We thought time moved differently in this world." 

"Well, I don't know if it did," said Mr Izumi, "how long were you kids in the digital world for?" 

The kids looked a bit uncertain, but Izzy instantly replied, "exactly one month, three and a half days." 

"That is how long you spent away," said Mr Kido. He was an older version of Jim, but with narrower eyes and a little less hair on the top. He sat on one side of Joe, and his wife, a plump brunette, on the other, although neither of them were touching him. 

"Wow," said Matt, summing it up pretty well. 

"We managed to scrounge up some pairs of binoculars and a telescope," said Mrs Kamiya, "and looked into those strange rifts in the sky." 

"The rifts only disappeared today," said Mrs Tachikawa, "what a relief! Every now and then some horrible monster would fly out!" 

"The monsters always faded away pretty quickly, but they could do some real damage while they were out," said Mr Ishida. 

"So is that why you were in the city, Mom?" asked Tai. 

"Yes, we could see right into the digital world through the sky." 

"It was all upside-down but sometimes we could see creatures in it." 

"If you weren't under a lot of tree cover or under the sea, we even watched you!" 

"Yes, we took it in turns after a while, because we didn't know when you were coming back and we had to work, but we didn't want to lose sight of you for too long." 

"We're so glad you're back!" 

"I was so worried about you!" 

"I'm glad your Digimon protected you so well!" 

"I was really worried when you were trying to escape from that terrible metal sea monster..." 

"And when you stepped up to that huge machine monster..." 

"We lost sight of you for a while, and then you popped up quite a way away from where you started!" 

"And it was such a relief to see you beat that last monster!" 

"When that happened, the rifts started flashing and shrinking..." 

"Then the sky went back to normal." 

"All through the weeks we were watching, and people on the streets thought we were weirdos when we said our kids were up there." 

"Nobody else seemed to be able to see you, even with the telescope." 

"They could see the Digimon though." 

"It is very strange." 

"I'm so proud of you!" 

"You have missed rather a lot of cram sessions..." 

"What happened after you beat the sea monster and disappeared under the tree cover?" 

"Why did you all split up?" 

"It was like watching half an adventure and trying to piece the missing pieces of puzzle together." 

"Sometimes I wished so much I could hear what you were all saying." 

"Or to know why you were chosen to begin with." 

"And what happened before the battle in this city a couple of months ago." 

"Construction workers have been crawling through town like ants over the last few weeks. They're finally making some worthwhile progress." 

The adults were all trying to say things, to contribute to the story. 

"Well, at least we have some idea of the other half of the story," said Izzy, "perhaps we ought to tell our own story from the beginning." 

*** 

There was little more than a week of their summer vacation remaining, and so they threw themselves into relaxation, into cramming as much holiday time in as possible. 

Mimi lounged around the house and went shopping with friends. Tai and Sora played soccer. TK played video games, Kari read, and sometimes they both went to the playground together. Joe studied, found that what usually suited him so well was suddenly a strain, and actually went to the beach for hours a day instead. Izzy was on the computer for quite a while, of course, but he too found he needed a break and spent a lot of time just lying thinking, or going for long walks. 

Apart from a couple of occasions with Tai and Sora playing soccer, or TK and Kari meeting up, none of the children met up with, talked to or communicated with any of the others that week. After so long with no other people around, most of them were glad to get away from each other, at least for a little while. 

Most of them also spent a lot of time talking to their parents. Mrs Takaishi was reluctant to let TK far out of her sight, and at a time when he seemed to be more distant than ever. It was perfectly obvious; he had grown up, without her even being around to see him, except for a few fleeting glimpses in the sky. He spoke more carefully, thought more clearly, and avoided many subjects. Although outwardly he was his usual cheerful self, being with older children for so long had its impact. 

Joe found it difficult to spend a lot of time with his parents; they weren't much of a family for closeness. His mother never said very much, but she would sometimes peek into his room or into the living room to check that he was alright. Joe thought she seemed nervous of him. His father wasn't home often, but when he was, he occasionally enquired about Joe's study progress - less vehemently than he used to, as thought it were a side-thought - otherwise ignoring him. Joe spent more time with Jim, when he wasn't at med school. 

He had been thinking a lot about what Jim had said a while ago; to be himself and do what he wanted to do. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do but he missed Gomamon; he didn't really have many friends in the real world apart from the other digidestined, who were at that stage taking pains to enjoy a break from each other. He had nightmares; nightmares he couldn't talk to anyone about, full of monsters and pain and death. He developed insomnia, afraid to go to sleep but hating how big and dark and empty his room seemed in the night with no other kids or Digimon around. 

Tai became something of an action junkie; he took to doing risky things for no apparent reason, such as running between moving cars or climbing down from high balconies. In between these activities, he sat on his bed for long periods of time, kind of shellshocked, not sure why he did them. But it wasn't long before he was climbing along train lines or something similar. His parents didn't know about this. 

Mimi's parents were worried about her; she had never been so quiet. She was hypersensitive to any sort of conflict; the slightest argument or even play-fighting upset her deeply, possibly because she thought that as the necessity of fighting for life was gone, nobody in the real world should bother with such a thing at all. She could never totally relax, although she pretended life was perfect - the way she had thought of it when she was in the digital world. Of all the other kids, she was the worst to get the feeling that something was watching her, but when she whirled to look there was nothing there. 

Paranoia, Izzy called it, who rarely suffered it himself. Of the digidestined, he probably adjusted best to returning - as he had adjusted best to going to the digital world to begin with. The rift that had been between himself and his parents since he first overheard them talking about his adoption had slid away somehow. There were still things he wouldn't talk about to them though, memories of black wings and blood and dying screams. He surprised himself by looking forward to school again - not only to learn more, but make friends and be around a lot of people again. 

Sora, although she missed Biyomon terribly, found some solace in a newfound relationship with her mother. As Mrs Takenouchi worked at home, the two could spend most of each day together, Sora sometimes helping with the flowers. Sometimes they talked endlessly, sometimes they said nothing for hours. 

Kari wanted to be mothered. Mrs Kamiya was happy to oblige, the two making up for lost time. Kari smiled a little less now, but was usually happy enough. She was glad to have given her whistle away, to not have the memory hanging around her neck. Every time she thought of the digital world, horrible visions flashed through her mind, replaying scenes she wanted to forget, and leaving her terrified. She took to sleeping in her parents' room at night. 

Matt seemed to shut down altogether. Having been on emotion overload for so long, he finally had the chance to stop thinking altogether. His father was worried and could barely make him eat, but had the sense to realise no doctor could help. The boy did little but stare at the wall, or at the ceiling if he was lying on his back, not speaking, and seeming not to think of anything at all. He slept little, and when he did his dreams were always very peaceful and uneventful, like delicately-painted landscapes in his mind. The only time he moved at all, apart from when he absolutely had to, was when he thought he saw Gabumon or TK and stretched out one arm towards them. Mr Ishida took as much of his work home as he could. 

*** 

The day before school went back, Izzy suddenly thought of something, and was amazed it hadn't occured to him sooner. On his computer there was nothing to show that the digital world had ever existed - although he soon remedied that, by typing up what he could remember and keeping logs of many failed searches for more information. Of e-mails from Jennai there were thus no sign, but _Izzy remembered his e-mail address!_

Being so familiar with the internet, Izzy was soon dredging up everything about the address that he could. The URL brought up a blank white page, and there was surprisingly scanty information on the owner of the server. But after some time of searching, he had a name - simply M. Jennai, no first name given - and, of all things, an address. A location in the real world. On Highton View Terrace. 

He copied the information and printed it out, nearly trembling with his excitement. A chance to investigate something real again! He was soon on the phone. Joe and Tai were out, so he left messages, but the others were home and willing to pursue the address. Some were eager to meet their friends again, others were hoping they could somehow find a way to meet their Digimon again, and some just didn't really have anything else to do. 

There was one exception. 

"Well, I'll try to get him to the phone for you, but I don't like your chances." 

Mr Ishida had put down the phone before Izzy could ask why, and went to his son, who was staring vacantly at the TV - which was switched off. 

"Matt," he said, nudging him, "Izzy's on the phone for you!" 

Matt showed no sign of having heard. 

"MATT!" shouted his father, losing patience and actually rather scared, "you listen to me when I speak to you! Your friend wants to talk to you!" 

A faint shadow passed across Matt's face, but was gone before his father could be sure he had even seen it. It was the most emotion he had shown all week. 

"Sorry, Izzy," said Mr Ishida, finally returning to the phone, "Matt hasn't been speaking at all since the night he came home." 

"You're kidding!" Izzy was suddenly jolted from his bubbling enthusiasm for knowledge. "What happened?" 

"I don't know! You probably have more idea than I do. He hasn't said a word or responded to a single thing I've said all week. He just sits there, or lies there, staring at nothing. Do you think... you or your friends could snap him out of it?" 

"We can try," said Izzy firmly. 

*** 

The group, including Tai and Joe who had received the messages, all stood inside the Ishida's apartment. Matt showed no indication that he had heard them come in, and his father moved discreetly to the other side of the room. TK looked from his father to his brother, worried at the changes he saw, and unsure what to do. 

In their own ways, the children each tried to get some response from Matt. 

"Hey, Matt," began Sora, kneeling down in front of him, "we came by to see how you were doing. Your dad's been worried about you. Do you want to tell me what's up?" 

He looked at her impassively without seeing her. 

"Don't worry, Matt," said Kari, putting her hand in one of his, "we're all safe now, and there are no monsters in the real world. We can just live a normal life again!" 

"Yeah, Matt," said Joe, "you did a great job in the digital world! How about you get up and come with us for a little while? Is there something you're worried about? Your brother's safe, right here." 

TK shrunk back involuntarily. 

"Matt," said Izzy, "we've found out something most interesting! I seem to have found an address for Jennai in the real world. Don't you want to come along and find out who lives there?" 

Mimi, thinking of Shogungekomon, thought a song might help. 

"Do re mi fa so la ti doooo... I wanna sing a song, a song that'll wake you up..." 

"He's not ASLEEP, Mimi!" 

"Yeah, he's just turned into a vegetable! Come on, Matt, pull yourself together! You don't want everyone to think you're a wimp, do you? If you were in the digital world now you'd be dead! C'mon, get up!" 

Matt trembled all over suddenly, although his expression didn't change. 

"Nice going, Tai, you traumatised him." 

"Well, I don't think he can get much worse than he already is!" 

"Matt!" shouted TK suddenly, "Matt, wake up!" 

The others fell silent and looked at him. Although they had all come to try, they all really felt that TK was probably the only one who could really get through to Matt. 

"C'mon, Matt! I need you to wake up!" 

At the words 'I need you', he stirred slightly. 

"We all do, Matt," said Sora, "we're your friends." 

"Yeah, we're a team," said Tai. 

"Don't you want to start the new school year with the rest of us?" added Joe. 

Matt blinked. "I wasn't asleep," he said slowly, as if trying to remember how to speak, "I just didn't feel like really being awake." 

The others grinned at each other, confused but relieved. Matt's father started, then checked himself, just standing staring in surprise. These kids knew his son better than he did... 

"I thought... I'd just take this week off... and then go back to school like a normal person." 

"Normal person, huh? Well, I wouldn't go that far," teased Tai. Matt smirked and punched him on the shoulder. 

"But it's weird, you know," said Matt, "I felt like I didn't have any energy to pull myself out of that slump until you said that about friends. I thought we'd stopped being friends when we came back." 

"Maybe we all forgot about it a bit," said Mimi, "I suddenly felt a lot happier when I met up with everyone again! Even if you don't care about clothes and stuff like my other friends..." 

"Sincerity," mused Izzy, "it's weird you two should say that... you've both been kind of unhappy without friendship and sincerity? I felt a lot better after I found out about Jennai's address, so I could go and uncover something new." 

"Funny you should say that," agreed Joe, "I've been on edge for a while, and I haven't really been doing the things I usually do." 

"I had a great week," said Sora quietly, "that's because I love my mom." 

Tai didn't say anything. 

"Do you think we're becoming dependent on what our crests were?" asked Joe, "I mean, we don't have our crests in the real world any more." 

"Maybe not," said TK thoughtfully, "but they're sorta inside us anyway, aren't they?" 

"Wow," said Kari, "you guys sure this is Jennai's house?" 

"It's huge," said Tai, awed, "how'd he afford this?" 

"Maybe adventuring in the digital world brings in a pretty impressive paycheck," suggested Joe.

"In that case, we should definitely be getting some big bucks soon," said Matt. 

"Now just a minute," Izzy reminded them, "we're not sure this is Jennai's house, we're merely following up an interesting item of information." 

"Why're we just standing around here?!" said Tai, "let's go check it out!" 

He dashed up to the door and started pounding on it madly. The others sweatdropped a little and followed more sedately. 

After a long pause, in which the children could hear scufflings, cursings and finally, footsteps, the door swung open. A young man - well, closer to middle-aged, but young in comparison to the Jennai they were expecting - stood in the doorway, looking a trifle irritated. He had long, metallic-silver hair pulled back in a ponytail and the same mysterious eyes that Joe and Izzy had. 

When he saw them, his eyes widened a little. 

"What are all you kids doing here? If you're collecting for something, I don't have any loose change on me at the moment." 

"It's not Jennai at all," said Tai, disappointed. 

"That's MR Jennai to you, young man, and how is it you know my name?" 

"I tracked your e-mail address," said Izzy calmly, "e-mail had been sent from it to my own computer, which provides me with adequate reason to believe you are the Jennai from the digital world." 

"Tracked my e-mail address?" the poor man sputtered, "are you kids are stalking me or something? It must have taken you an awful lot of effort to track down my address from my e-mail, the information was hardly in plain view. In fact, it's highly confidential. I hope your explanation is good." 

The kids looked at each other uncertainly. Somehow, they didn't think that thinking he had been an old man who lived in a computer-generated world inhabited by numerous dangerous monsters was a very good explanation. But Izzy smiled. 

"You know my curiousity can lead me anywhere," he said confidently, "you assisted in manufacturing a crest based on that. And I distinctly recall that in the digital world, you commented that you would possess an alternate appearance and form. I am sorry if we have intruded but I'm unable to understand why you are pretending not to know us." 

The man stared at him for a moment, their eyes locking. The other kids looked at each other anxiously, wondering if Izzy knew what he was talking about. Then Jennai looked away and sighed. "I ought to have forseen this," he said, "but to answer your question, Koushirou, I was simply testing to see whether you would recognise me." 

Izzy furrowed his eyebrows. "Why'd you call me Koushirou? Nobody calls me that except a couple of teachers." 

"I can see there are several things I must explain," said Jennai, "I suppose you had all better come in." 

*** 

"Very well, it is now time for me to tell you my own story. It began just over ten Earth years ago. I won't get into the mathematics of it all, but I found my own way into the digital world. Back then, it was more primitive than it now was, and time there moved slower. But as technology in this world speeded up, the digital world became faster - and as you know, by the time you kids got there initially, you were there for several months that was barely a minute in your own world. 

I found that I could go in and out of the digital world, spending days at a time there and returning to find that only an hour or two had passed. You remember I told you I had a different form in both worlds - well, that was less true then, but nevertheless, I existed in both worlds at the same time. 

This was true for you kids too - before Myotismon's attack on this world, before you returned to summer camp, your flesh-and-blood human selves, which you were linked to, were still in the real world behaving normally. As you were not gone for a very long time, this did not matter greatly. After you defeated Venommyotismon and returned to the digital world, things were so terribly corrupted there that the normal rules did not apply. 

I enjoyed visiting the digital world, learning more about how it worked, relishing being the only human to know about it, and meeting many of the Digimon who lived there. However, I would not have exchanged it for my life in the real world for anything. I was a mathematics professor with many wonderful students... a wife... and a new baby son. Although it was sometimes nice to get away, I would never have voluntarily deserted my family or life. 

However, after a particularly stressful week, I thought it would be nice to rest for a couple of days in the digital world. So I went there as usual, not realising how wrong it could all go. But while I was there that time, the flesh-and-blood me, who was still in the real world acting independantly of me, was in a car accident and actually passed away. 

The human body I was linked to was gone, and now I was nothing but a little piece of data in the digital world, trapped there forever. 

I did not learn this for some time, although I became increasingly anxious as my attempts to return to the real world as I had done successfully so many times before, failed time and time again. 

However... do you remember when you were in Puppetmon's forest and Kari showed you how you were chosen? The same light that spoke through her told me that I could have a second chance if I would become the temporary guardian of the digital world while the balance of light and darkness were shaken. Once things were running smoothly again, I would be given a human body back. 

I acted too fast, choosing eight adults who I thought could save the digital world. But adults could not work together and forget their vicious pettiness against each other. I had not been in the digital world long enough myself to satisfactorally guide them. They did more damage than they prevented. 

I was more careful with my next decision, but the children I chose then could not help either. Their chosen characteristics were not strong enough inside them, and they too failed. I was on my own again, and for me, it was like thousands and thousands of years. I waited and looked for appropriate candidates in the human world. 

Finally, you kids all came together and I'm really pleased with the way you worked together and with your Digimon. Your crests were made four human years - an eternity for me! - before you actually came to the digital world, and each of you grew up without losing the characteristic that had given your crest being. 

When you left the digital world a week ago, I stayed for a short while to tie up some loose ends and then left myself. I suppose my body now is ten years older than it was when I first went into the digital world. I must say it's very nice to be rid of that awful ugly old man's body. I suppose when there I aged in reference to the time I spent there. 

Well, children, that's my story in short. I suppose deep down I knew it would be you who would save both worlds, but I tried those two other groups to try to avoid that - I didn't want to see my own son place himself in such danger, after all." 

"Son?" repeated Tai, the first of the children to speak in a while, "whaddya mean, 'son'?" 

"He means me," said Izzy, very quietly. 

"Wha?!" squawked the rest of the group, and Tai added, "how long've you two known this for?!" 

"I only just figured it out," said Izzy, "but Jennai knew right from the beginning." 

"What are you going to do now?" asked Sora. 

"I think we should talk to my mom and dad," said Izzy. 

"Agreed," said Jennai, "but first I have a proposition to make, suggested to me by your Digimon before I left the digital world. As I have just told you, it was possible for me to exist in both worlds at the same time, but in the world where I didn't really belong - the digital world - I was a shadow of myself. The only non-Digimon in a world full of them." 

"What are you getting at?" 

"I was thinking that no humans should be allowed into the digital world again - it upsets the balance and confuses data, even when you are the digidestined. However, provided that your Digimon stay in that world, their data will still be available in the world's computer network, and I may be able to bring them here." 

"Bring our Digimon here?" 

"Really?" 

"Wow, that'd be so great!" 

"Definitely prodigious!" 

"You must understand the implications. I would have to reconfigure them a little so their appearance resembled humans - or hu-mon, get it? - in the digital world, and that when they came back to this world, they would look like normal people." 

"I thought you had different forms in different worlds?" 

"I did, but as I said, they were trifling differences, barely noticeable - eyes, slight features - most of the changes were influenced by the passage of time involved. You were only there for a short time. I don't think you even really noticed the changes in your forms? But then, the differences would have been less marked in digidestined, as your digivices and crests helped you fit into the world without disrupting it terribly." 

"Back to the point you were making," said Matt, eagerly, "what were you saying about our Digimon and implications or whatever?" 

   [1]: mailto:leto@nysa.cx



	2. "School days are the happiest ones in my...

After the Storm, part 2 This just continues on directly from the previous part, as in exactly after.

**After the Storm**  
by [Leto][1]  
Part 2 - "School days are the happiest ones in my life?!"

"I am saying I think I could bring your Digimon to this world, but they would have to have human-like forms. Would you want me to do this? Their personalities should be largely unaffected by the reconfiguration but of course, they could change while in this world. You may find you relate differently to your Digimon when they appear as a human. And they may voluntarily change their character to better fit into the human world." 

"Well," said Joe, with no hesitation, "if Gomamon's happy to do it, definitely bring him over!" 

"That'd be great," agreed Matt. 

"It was so hard to leave Biyomon," said Sora, "if you could bring her to this world, I wouldn't care what she looked like!" 

"Patamon was my best friend," said TK, "even if we fought sometimes." 

"I'd really like to be with Gatomon again, if she doesn't mind." 

"Me too! The more the merrier, bring Palmon back too!" 

"It would be truly magnificent if Tentomon could live in the real world." 

There was a pause, and everyone glanced at Tai, who hadn't said anything. 

"I think you guys are rushing into this," he said cautiously, "I mean, remember what Jennai just said. It would be a lot different if they were humans too, and we were all living in this world. Wouldn't you rather remember them as our friends the way they were then?" 

"I can't believe you just said that, Tai," snapped Matt, "don't you care about Agumon at all?" 

"Of course I care! That's why I think it's not fair to expect him to come to some world he doesn't belong to in a body that isn't his and try to fit in just for my sake!" 

"Wow, Tai's actually making sense for once," said Sora. 

"What do you think, Jennai?" 

"Tai has a valid point, but I do believe all your Digimon want very much to stay with you. After all, their sole purpose for being created was to accompany you digidestined and rescue the digital world. Now that all that's over, they have nothing left in the digital world." 

"Agumon always... made me feel stronger, and vice versa I guess. But would he still be my guardian if we were both humans and as strong as each other? And is it really a good idea to stay so attached to each other? I mean, what if something happened to one of us after we'd been around each other for years?" 

"Tai, this doesn't sound like you," said Mimi. 

"Yeah, sounds more like Joe," agreed Matt. 

"I just think it's a really big decision, okay? Jennai, do you have any answers?" 

"I'm afraid not. You kids know your Digimon better than I do. Would you be willing to take the risk and accept the consequences? Go with your gut, Tai. That's how you operate." 

"My gut says, what're we standing around talking for, let's get those Digimon, especially Agumon, over here!" 

The others smiled, relieved, at each other. Privately, most of them had some secret inhibitions about their Digimon coming to the real world permanently - would it really be best for them both? Would they revolve in the same social circles? Would their Digimon find it difficult to fit in? Jennai was speaking again, interrupting their thoughts. 

"It will be a tedious and time-consuming process. There are also a couple of hurdles I can think of that might take a while to work out. Perhaps Koushirou could help me with that." 

"I'd be happy to, but why do you call me Koushirou? You didn't in the digital world." 

"Ah, but in the digital world, I couldn't let you know I was your father and knew your real name. It would be dangerous for either of us to get too attached, and you had to stand on your own feet in the digital world. But I have always thought of you as Koushirou; of course when you were a baby everyone called you that, and you couldn't acquire your nickname until the Izumi adopted you. So for many years in the digital world I was wondering how you were growing up. I was glad when you took to computers, because I could follow your e-mails from the digital world." 

"I see," said Izzy, "I think we have a lot to talk about. Do you mind if I stay here for a few hours? We could begin reconfiguring our Digimon." 

"Of course," said Jennai, and the others took this as their cue to leave. 

And so, school began again.

~~Joe~~ 

Having missed most of the exams for more prestigious junior high schools, Joe started at Odaiba Junior High, assuring his father that he would definitely get into a good high school. 

Resulting from this, many of his old classmates went up with him, the ones who had teased and belittled him, and generally made his life miserable. Tome, Roshi, Jae, Ken... Of course, none of them knew how Joe had spent his summer vacation, and thus felt no inclination to treat him with any more respect than they previously had. 

But Joe had learned one or two things through fighting monsters, having friends and risking his life. After being confronted by giant metal sea serpents, having fire shot at him, climbing cliff faces in the middle of the night and nearly drowning, he wasn't so likely to be afraid of a few kids his own age. 

"Hey! It's the dweeb!" 

His first day back at school, and the usual group had found their favourite target. 

"Hey Joe, we didn't see you around much in the holidays." 

"Guess he doesn't get out of the house much." 

"Too busy studying." 

"Not that it helps him at all!" 

One of the boys, Ken, shoved him in the chest, pushing him against the wall. Joe cringed back instinctively, and then seemed to remember Gomamon proudly saying that Joe would be anything he wanted to be. 

"Got any lunch money?" 

"Yes," he said calmly, ignoring their looks of surprise that he had replied to them for once, "and I prefer to use it for lunch, thank you." 

"Oh, such good manners!" 

"Awww, don't you wanna share?" 

"C'mon Joey-boy, hand it over!" 

Jae made a move towards him, but Joe grabbed his hand in mid-swing. Months of running, climbing, carrying and walking paid off. He clenched his fist around the other boy's hand and threw him back into the following corridor wall. Jae sat dazed for a moment, before standing up with an unpleasant look on his face. 

"I'll teach you to shove me," he snapped, lunging towards Joe who shook off the hands of other kids, ducking neatly to escape down the corridor. Jae slammed his fist into the wall, then leapt around clutching it in pain. 

"I'll get you for that, you jerk!" 

"We'll teach him a lesson after school, heh Jae." 

He scowled in agreement, still holding his injured hand. 

* 

The day passed surprisingly well for Joe; as most people in middle school were older and more mature, he found a few people he could get along with, as well as an old friend or two. He found himself in the same maths class as Koj, a casual sort of friend from the year before. 

After school, the two walked out together and saw a crowd gathered on the front lawns of the school. Tome, Jae, Ken and Roshi stood in the middle. Jae was punching one fist in the air, and his friends grinned at him. There was the uneasy atmosphere of upcoming violence. 

"Hey Joe," said Koj, "looks like they're gearing up for a fight again." 

Joe hesitated, taking a few steps back, back behind the front doors of the school. "Yeah, and I bet I know who the challenger is. I think I'll take the back way home." 

"There is no back way," said Koj, "unless you're thinking of climbing an 8-foot fence and sneak around the apartment block without the caretaker seeing you, and then walking around the block which will take you an extra twenty minutes at least..." he finally cottoned on, "oh, you're the guy they're gonna beat into a pulp, right?" 

"Thank you for putting it so nicely," said Joe dryly. "I guess you're right though. Anyway, I'm going to have to face them some time." 

"Wow, is that you talking, Joe? Guy most likely to chicken out?" 

"Maybe once," muttered Joe, and walked towards the school gate, willing himself not to look anyone in the face, to just make his feet keep moving. Of course he was intercepted before he made it halfway. Koj, not a hero himself, slipped out the way and joined the rest of the group - it was safer. 

"Fight! Fight!" the crowd was shouting, and Jae stepped in front of him. Joe, concentrating on just walking, moved right into the other boy, pushing him a few feet backwards. Half the crowd started laughing, the other grumbled with hostility. 

"You and me, Joey-boy," snapped Jae. 

This is just like a bad movie, thought Joe, before Jae ran at him, tackling him to the ground. He landed painfully on his bookbag, feeling his chemistry book digging into his back. Joe numbly put one arm over his face as his new rival swung at his face. Impacts... nothing to get worried about, nothing compared to before... ignoring the haze of the cheering crowd and the boy pounding his face in, Joe's mind wandered back to the digital world, and Gomamon... 

A punch caught Joe off-guard, slamming into his face, knocking his jaw out of alignment. Joe squawked in pain and tried to move one arm to his face, but now Roshi had entered the fight, helping to pin him to the ground. He couldn't help himself as another blow sent stars flying in front of his eyes... 

I shouldn't fight back, Joe thought, it's against everything Jim taught me. Against everything I believe in... people just get hurt, and no problems get solved, when you fight... but letting them push me around causes more problems. And what'd I do anyway? 

Hey! I *don't* deserve this. 

It was a turning point. 

Joe growled and forced both of his arms up with all his strength, pushing Roshi out of the way. He swung one arm up, hitting Jae in the head with one elbow. Jae swore and lunged back. 

The mood of the crowd changed - now they weren't eager for blood, they were watching a good show. The shouts quietened. 

The three boys bent into crouching, fighting stances. Joe abandoned his defensive and flew at Jae, hitting him in the chest and then plowing a fist into his stomach. Jae hissed, winded, and sunk to the ground. Joe narrowed his eyebrows and kicked him in the face, once, twice, grinding his foot into it. He lifted his bookbag to drop it on the other boy, but his arms were caught in mid-air - gripped strongly by Ken and Tome. 

His fury wore off suddenly. Joe stared blankly at Jae, lying motionless on the ground with blood on his face. Did I just do that? wondered Joe, did I just break another kid's nose? 

Now it was four against one - well, three against one, as Jae was not really in fighting condition. Joe deflated after seeing the blood all over Jae's face - it was a horrible sight, and to think he had caused it... he felt sick to his stomach, and a little weak, as he usually did when he saw blood. 

He didn't move as the other kids laid blow after blow into him. The pain flooded through him but he barely registered it - he was transfixed on the lifeless figure in front of him. 

~~Sora~~ 

Sora found that, being a senior, she had some new expectations placed on her. She overheard a couple of comments about how she wasn't acting like a proper girl, and one of the snootier groups of girls giggling at her clothes. She narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists and ignored it all, instead wrestling with her locker. 

"C'MON you stupid thing," she snapped, losing her temper after a tense few lessons. She pounded one fist into it and tugged at the handle. 

"Hey, Sora, doesn't sound like you." 

Sora whirled, embarassed, then smiled when she saw who it was. 

"Hi Sam. Sorry, this locker would drive anyone to tears." 

"Make way for a man," he said with a grin, and calmly stepped up, twisted the handle once and pulled backwards sharply. The whole block of lockers trembled and Sora yelped. 

"Get back! Get back!" 

The entire block wobbled and fell forwards, sending an enormous crash reverberating down the corridor. 

Several other students came closer, staring. 

"Hey, great," shouted one boy, "I lost a baseball behind those lockers three years ago!" 

"Yeah," said a girl, "and I dropped a notebook back there last year." 

Suddenly the block was covered with kids crawling over to retrieve their long-lost treasures. 

Sora sweatdropped. "Thanks, Sam, I'll make sure never to make way for a man again!" 

Sam grinned sheepishly. "Hey, you don't hear anyone else complaining." 

A teacher's crisp footsteps sounded and Miss Kuchisawa stormed up. "What on earth is going on down here! You kids clean up this mess and put those lockers in their correct position, right now." 

Sora and Sam exchanged an amused look, and with the help of a couple of other boys, yanked the lockers back into place. When it was finally settled appropriately, the two friends sweatdropped. 

Every locker door was open, and books all over the floor. There was only one locker door that remained firmly closed, and that was Sora's. 

"Don'tcha love technology," said one of the boys who had helped right the lockers, and slapped Sora on the back, "it's gonna be so great dealing with whoever's books these are!" 

"Good luck, Sora," said the other boy. 

"Sorry, Sora," said Sam, and bent to start shovelling books back into lockers. 

"Are you sure those go into that locker?" asked Sora, "people are going to freak out if they find their books missing. I think you should just leave them where they are." 

"With pleasure," he said, "now do you still need help getting your locker open, my fair lady?" 

"Yeah," said Sora, "but I'm not letting you help me in a million years!" 

"There's a knack," said a short boy with dark hair, stepping up to them, "your locker looks like it might be like me - stubborn. What you gotta do is pry something in the crack and twist the handle as you open it." 

Sora looked relieved as he demonstrated, and her locker finally flipped open. 

"I don't think I'll dare to shut this locker again!" she said, wiping her forehead dramatically, "thanks a lot for your help!" 

"Happy to do it," said the other boy, "I'm Tekuza, nice to meet you." 

"Sure," said Sora, a little surprised, "I'm Sora." 

"That's a nice name," said Tekuza, "well, I gotta get to class." 

"Okay, I'll see you around," said Sora, "and thanks again for the help!" 

"No problem!" 

Sora smiled to herself as the small figure disappeared down the corridor. She felt really pleased at how nice people were being to her that day. Sam waved goodbye and slapped her on the back, before heading off to one of his own classes. Sora realised she had a class too, and started neatly placing books into her locker. She soon felt that there were people standing right behind her. 

"I'm sorry, do you have one of these lockers?" asked Sora, stepping away, "I didn't mean to get in your way." 

Three girls stood there, their short skirts clearly telling what sort of kids they were. 

"You're just a big flirt, aren't you." 

"Pretending to be such a tomboy, that's so unfeminine, you won't have a chance with anyone." 

"Yeah, do you have ANY female friends at all?" 

"A couple..." said Sora nervously, "Mimi Tachikawa and Kari Kamiya... Biyomon..." 

"Biyomon? What sort of name is that?" 

"The name of my best friend, that's who," said Sora, defensively. 

"Wow, you don't have to get, like, all uptight about it. I bet she's like an imaginary friend or something." 

"She'd so have to be, wouldn't she!" 

"She is NOT," snapped Sora, feeling herself get irritated as she rarely did, "don't insult my friends." 

"Hi Sora," came a voice, and Tai appeared behind her, slinging an arm over her shoulders, "it's not like you to be late to class. Me, on the other hand - man, it's a hectic day! We're both in biology together, aren't we?" 

"Yeah," said Sora, the tension defusing out of her with her friend's casual touch, "yeah, let's go, Tai." 

"You up for some soccer practise after school?" 

"Love to," she said, ignoring the sniggers behind her. 

Mimi was busy with her own friends, and she decided she wasn't going to feel bad about being friends with guys. Maybe when Biyomon came, it would prove that she was a girl too... 

~~Matt~~ 

Matt was enjoying his first day as a senior. At first it had seemed strange and kind of superficial to be back in the real world, talking about music and sports and new students, when he'd just come from a continuous battle to save the Earth. But at the same time, it was relaxing. 

He usually hung out in the popular circles, and spent a lot of time as the lone wolf, but nobody ever picked on him for it because he just didn't seem to care. Everyone knew that Matt was cool. But everyone noticed that this year, he was less preoccupied with petty things, more serious, yet more interested in the people around him. 

"Yo, Matt!" 

Matt grinned as he saw one of his old best friends run up to him. 

"Hey, man. Jake, haven't seen you in a while." 

"Yeah, where you been all summer, huh?" 

"I been around. How's things going with Mikako?" 

"Crash and burn, dude. Don't even ask!" 

"Don't tell me Mr Lady's Man is girlfriendless at the moment?!" 

"Hey Matt, it's purely temporary! You know I've got way too many girls to choose from, that's the problem." 

"Sure, sure. I believe you. Thousands wouldn't." 

"Well, I do have my sights set on a verrry sweet specimen in grade 5. I'm sure she's hot for me, man." 

"Yeah? What is this chick?" 

"Mimi Tachikawa, she's a babe." 

Matt made a choking sound. 

"You know her?" 

"Yeah... yeah, I know her pretty well." 

"Hey man, cool! You'll give me an introduction then, right? That's what friends are for, huh?" 

"Wow, Jake, sounds like you're kinda desperate. I thought you said she was hot for you?" 

"Yeah, well of course she is, but it doesn't hurt for her to know my name as well as feast her eyes on me." 

"Sure, man, I hear you. I'll give you an intro some time." 

Matt grinned to himself, wondering how Mimi would react. He realised, with surprise, that he really couldn't guess. Having been with her so long, he knew her real personality more than most people, yet he still didn't know how she would act in this situation, especially when she was back to using her real-world mask. You could know people without knowing them at all. 

In the end, there was really only one person he really understood, and that was the one who was like an extension of himself. Gabumon. 

* 

Matt was walking to the bus stop, kicking a small stone in front of him, concentrating on it. It was really the first time he had been alone all day, and it was kind of a relief. He found it kind of unreal the contrast between that day and the days in the previous week. More superficial, perhaps, yet more real. He was glad to feel like a person again. 

As he continued walking, he picked up the sound of people cheering, which became louder the further he went. He suddenly stopped watching the stone and looked around for the source. He soon reached it - the middle school, where a crowd had gathered around some brawl. He rolled his eyes and grinned. To think that only a few months ago he would have been in the middle of that sort of thing, cheering along or duking it out. 

Feeling tentative - being only an elementary schooler - Matt ventured into the gates to get a closer look, and his eyes widened. He recognised his old friends. 

"Hey, Matt," shouted Tome, from where he had Joe in a death grip, "good to see ya!" 

"Yeah, we're just teaching this loser a good lesson!" said Roshi, delivering a punch that would have sent Joe flying if he weren't being held up. Instead, his body jerked back. His glasses lay smashed on the ground, and several spidering trails of blood ran down one cheek, a reddening bruise forming over the other. 

"Wanna join us? We know how much you love a good fight!" 

Matt stared, frozen. The group of kids around was silent, sensing some tension, waiting to see if this newcomer was going to live up to his reputation. And it was a matter of reputation. 

Joe flashed him a brief look. It wasn't a pleading or an angry look, although it was pained. It was the expression that said "don't worry about me, do what you have to do, I understand". 

Matt remembered seeing it when Joe saved TK's life, letting himself get caught and tortured outside Veggiemon's diner. 

"Hey guys, nice to see you again," he said coolly, "Joe, you coming? We don't wanna miss the bus." 

Joe finally spoke, thickly, "I... Jae... what would Gomamon say." 

Matt stared in amazement, finally noticing the other boy lying on the ground, and glanced back at Joe. I can't belive Joe would do that, he thought. There's just no way. 

"You can tell him yourself in a coupla weeks, man," said Matt, "c'mon, let's get out of here." 

Matt put one hand on Joe's back. Tome and Ken dropped his arms in bewilderment. Everyone stared in silence as Matt led Joe away, like a child. 

Joe and Matt did not actually catch the same bus, but nobody had to know that. Joe himself seemed barely aware of it, he limped along in a daze. Matt thought that if he didn't have one hand on his friend's back that he would probably just crumple up altogether. 

"So, man, what happened?" asked Matt awkwardly, as they reached the bus stop. Nobody else was there; Matt could tell he had missed his bus. It didn't really matter. 

"Nothing..." mumbled Joe, "nothing at all." 

"Hey, don't say that," snapped Matt, "you're acting like you're gonna have a nervous breakdown and you say it's nothing. Did you really crush Jae's face in like that?" 

"..." 

"Why?" 

"They were picking on me again," muttered Joe, guiltily, "and they started the fight, for no reason at all, and I just fought back for once. I'm sick of them." 

"Yeah, you're probably right," said Matt reassuringly, "I know those guys, they're like that." 

"You were like that," said Joe quietly, "why'd you change?" 

"The crest of friendship, I guess. The digital world sure put things into perspective." 

"Yeah..." 

"What's the problem, Joe? You gave some jerk what he deserved. You should feel proud!" 

"Yeah... right." 

"Your no-fighting policy, right?" 

"Something like that." 

"But you fought in the digital world, Joe." 

"This is completely different." 

"No it isn't, not really. You had to fight to defend yourself there, it's the same deal here. Sure, the fate of the world's not at stake but you don't wanna be miserable all through middle school, do you. I bet Gomamon would understand - he was always saying, stick up for yourself. C'mon, man, he'll be alright. And now the kids know not to mess with you. You didn't break down at all out there. Never picked you for a fighter, dude." 

Joe grinned a little at that. 

"Neither did I." 

The two friends sat for a while, staring at the traffic passing them. 

"How well can you see without your glasses?" asked Matt presently. 

"Well, I can't tell if that's a telephone pole or a street sign. Does that answer your question?" 

"Joe, that's a traffic light." 

"Oh." 

There was a pause, and then the two started laughing. 

   [1]: mailto:leto@nysa.cx



	3. "What's happening to my friends?"

After the Storm, part 3 **After the Storm**  
by [Leto][1]  
Part 3 - "What's happening to my friends?"

~~Tai~~

Tai was popular too, but in a different way to Matt. Half the school thought he was a nutcase, half thought he was cool, but nobody could really dislike him because he was so friendly and good-natured, and he wouldn't let anyone get the better of him. Also, everyone appreciated a good athlete.

All of the digidestined - apart from Joe - attended Odaiba Elementary, and so saw each other if not actually in classes, then at least during lunch break or special school assemblies. Izzy, Sora and Tai had been on good terms BD - Before Digiworld - but now the friendship between all the kids who had gone had a depth to it.

Yet Tai still felt - knew - there was something missing. His second self, Agumon. When he saw Izzy in a classroom or sat next to Sora, he instinctively looked down to see his Digimon friend, who should have been there but wasn't. 

School was as boring as he remembered it. He doodled through English and tried to do Magic Eye on the patterns on the carpet through Maths, until his teacher asked why he was staring cross-eyed at the floor, and he was shot back to reality. He spent most of Biology whispering and passing notes to Sora, and most of French moved along pleasantly as he fell fast asleep on his pencil tin. 

No doubt about it, it was a good start to the school year. 

Lunch time was soccer-oriented, typically. Izzy played too, but Sora wasn't around. 

"Tai! Tai! Over here!" 

"Just a sec - right!" 

"Got it!" 

"Hey, over here!" 

"Hey, get the ball back!" 

"Let's go, let's go!" 

"So close!" 

Tai slid in front of the opponent, neatly averting the ball and dribbling it back to his team's side of the field. With one smooth kick, he slammed the ball right into the goalkeeper, sending him backwards into the net with its impact. Tai punched one fist into the air, and his teammates cheered. 

"Sure glad you're on our side," said one of his teammates, punching him on the shoulder. 

"Looking good there, Tai," said Mr Fujiyama, who was watching on the sidelines, "you'll make the soccer team this year for sure." 

"Was there ever any doubt?" returned Tai, with a big grin. He pushed his hair out of his face. It fell back down about five seconds later. 

"You should really get a haircut." 

"Nahh. Helps for headbutting the ball. Even if I miss hitting it, my hair will at least stop it in mid-air!" 

Mr Fujiyama laughed. "Well, so long as it's good for something!" 

*** 

The next day, the digidestined (minus one middle-schooler) sat open-mouthed around the same lunch table - a rarity - as Matt recounted Joe's story of the previous day. 

"I just can't believe Joe would do something like that," Mimi kept saying, sounding quite scared - of Joe? 

"I don't think he could either," said Matt, "that's probably what he found worst about the whole thing." 

Tai pounded his fist on the table. "Well, if one of our friends is having a hard time it's up to the rest of us to help out! We'll go teach those guys a real lesson! Never back down from a battle!" 

Everyone else sweatdropped. "Tai, people are staring," whispered Mimi, looking around nervously. 

"Tai, we're not in the digital world now," said Matt dryly, "and I think the last thing Joe needs is someone to fight his battles for him." 

"Hmpf," said Tai, a little deflated, "well, anyway, tell us the names of these freaks." 

"You know, I don't think I caught their names," said Matt, evasively, "things were kind of strained at the time." 

"How's everyone finding school?" asked Sora. 

"It's not as bad as I thought it'd be," said Matt, "people aren't getting on my nerves as much as last year. Besides, it's nice to just be a normal kid again." 

"I know what you mean," said Mimi, "and speaking of normal kids, I should probably get back to my usual lunch table soon, or everyone will be wondering about my choice in company." 

The others got slightly miffed expressions. "We're bad choice in company?" returned Tai, "I'm hurt!" 

"Oh, I didn't mean it like that," Mimi said hurriedly (conveniently not saying how she did mean it), "but it is nice to be back into my normal life again." 

"Yeah, things seem a lot easier now we're back at school," said Tai, "more than last week, when we were just at home." 

"Some of us were at home," said Kari, "others of us were doing tightrope walking on the balcony railing." 

Tai got a large sweatdrop. "Ahahah... you saw that?!" 

"And I saw it when you were trying to climb the drainpipes, and when you were playing 'chicken' with cars on your bike..." 

"Well, you see, there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for all that... hahahah... well, that is..." 

Izzy saved Tai from the others' bewildered gazes by entering the conversation. "Well, I hope you don't object to my changing the subject..." 

"Not at all, you go right ahead!" said Tai quickly. 

"But I took my parents to meet Jennai - or Dad, I suppose I ought to call him - last night. It was quite remarkable, just like a family reunion. Then, I guess it was." 

"So what happened?" asked Sora, "I mean, if he's your real Dad, are you going to go live with him or something?" 

"No," said Izzy, "the parents I've had all these years are my real parents, as far as I'm concerned. However, I am considering the possibility of changing my last name - almost like a compromise. He watched over me from the digital world as much as he could, you know." 

He fell silent, looking into his spaghetti lunch. There was a long pause, as though Izzy was lost in thought, or fighting back emotion, or something like that. Everyone waited for him, and finally he smiled a little. 

"I guess I'm really quite lucky. I've always wanted to meet my real father, and not everybody gets such an opportunity. Also, it is wonderful that he is on good terms with my parents. It'll... make decisions... a lot easier." 

There was another long pause, which TK finally broke. "What about Patamon?" 

"Yeah," agreed Matt with sudden eagerness, "how's the reconfiguramming or whatever it is going?" 

Izzy laughed, but not very sincerely. "I hope you're not going to be this impatient throughout the whole time. We've barely even begun, but then we haven't worked on it for very long yet. I've simply been taught the process which will need to be undertaken in order to help." 

"It'll be so great when they come back," said Sora, "I wonder what they'll be like." 

"I hope Palmon fits into... well, my group, you know what I mean?" said Mimi, sounding a little doubtful, "somehow, I'm not quite sure... but of course, I'll be her friend anyway..." 

"It's gonna be really strange," said Tai, "I hope Agumon likes soccer!" 

"I wonder what sort of kid Gabumon will be. He sure doesn't act much like any kid around here. Not that that's such a bad thing, mind you." 

"It'll be way cool to play with Patamon like a normal kid," said TK, "I hope he comes to school here!" 

"Hey, for all we know, our Digimon will turn into humans totally different to how we expect," said Tai mischeivously, "I bet Gabumon will have blue skin and be about 50 years old." 

"Hey, take that back," snapped Matt. 

Tai grinned. "All this time and you still can't take a joke, huh Matt? For someone who thinks he has such a cool guy image, you sure lose your cool a lot." 

"It's not hard, when I get stuck hanging out with you all the time!" 

"Guys, please, stop it!" begged Mimi, "I hate it when you fight." 

"We were just joking around," said Tai, a little surprised, "at least, I think we were..." 

"Well, you shouldn't joke like that," said Mimi, "please don't." 

"I won't fight just as long as Tai never opens his mouth," said Matt, "I won't need to, then... not that it's likely to happen any time this century!" Tai punched him and Mimi looked near tears. Sora put a hand on her arm and frowned at the boys. 

"Cool it, guys," she said calmly, "the bell's about to go anyway." 

"Woah," said Tai, "and I haven't even finished my lunch yet!" He started shovelling food down his throat, barely pausing to breathe. 

"That's because you talk too much for any food to get a word in edgeways," said Matt. Tai glanced at Mimi and just grinned. 

"Izzy, you want to come play soccer with us after school?" asked Sora, "we're practising for the tryouts next week." 

"I'd like to," said Izzy, "but I really ought to go to Jennai's house and put in some more work on our Digimon." 

"Right," said Sora, feeling slightly guilty that he was doing so much and they weren't. 

Kari must have been thinking along similar lines because she suddenly said, "Izzy, I want to help you. It's not fair that you should have to do all the work yourself." 

"Thanks for the offer, Kari, but I really don't think -" 

"I'm good with computers," she said, "and you could teach me what to do, couldn't you? Please, I'd really like to help." 

"Well," said Izzy, weakening at the prospect of a long, tedious task being reduced slightly, "maybe we could find you something you could do to help." 

Kari smiled happily, and then the end of lunch bell went. The kids got up, Sora and Izzy neatly pushing their chairs in, the others not bothering. Tai slapped Matt on the back. 

"Hey man," he said, "you should come too, after school, practise soccer with us. You played a bit in the digital world, right? It's a lot better with three people anyway, then someone can be the goalkeeper while the others try to get the ball away from each other." 

"Well," said Matt, "I'm not a big soccer fan. But if you really need me - and I don't blame you! - I guess I can take an hour or something out of my busy social life. After all, you're gonna need a LOT of practise if you're going to get on the soccer team, can't have you messing up on me." 

Tai grinned and slapped him on the shoulder. "Thanks man, you're the greatest!" 

"You know it," returned Matt, also grinning. 

*** 

In fact, Matt played soccer with Tai for the next three days. He wouldn't play at lunchtime or when other people were around - muttering something about his image - but he turned out to be quite a decent player. Certainly not in Tai's league, but he was a big help. When Sora was busy, he just stood there across from Tai, kicking the ball back and forth, for an hour or two at a time. 

He really is a pretty good friend, thought Tai idly on Friday afternoon. He was walking home from school and missing Matt's company - he was at class band practise. He grinned a little to himself as he tried to imagine Matt in a band, instead of doing his own thing. 

Tai had a bounce in his step as he thought of his friends and the past week. He'd kind of forgotten to do his maths homework... every day... and he had a feeling biology was something about some nuclear acid or something... Tai wasn't sure what that was, but it sounded dangerous. And he could - almost - introduce himself in French, and describe someone's cat as black, after four years of taking the subject. 

These minor details didn't make school less fun - boring subjects could be overcome with a little imagination. Daydreaming, mentally kicking goals or revisiting the digiworld... he couldn't wait to see Agumon again. 

Still, things were good for him. He thought it might be that way for the others too. 

Then again, Mimi had seemed kind of agitated whenever she was around the other digidestined (ex-digidestined? Nah... they'd always be heroes!)... and Sora had screamed and flown around the other day when he tapped her on the shoulder, coming up behind her unexpectedly. And Sora wasn't a nervy sort of person. Matt had taken back some of his own characteristics of hiding his stronger emotions, as if he were embarassed to be too passionate in the real world, thinking people might laugh at him. Tai remembered Matt had been like that in the beginning. 

His sister was less withdrawn than she had been in the real world before her adventures. Tai realised from her comments at lunch a few days ago that she had been well aware of his dangerous games last week, and scared for him, but she had never said anything. Some of the others had tried to question him since, but he wouldn't say anything... there was no need to do stupid things now that Agumon was coming, and now that he could use his energy for something. 

Izzy sure had been busy lately... wasn't even playing soccer, just went to the computer room at lunch and straight to Jennai's after school. Tai wondered what his parents were thinking of all this. He seemed to be a little stressed, and if anyone asked him how their Digimon were coming along, his mouth twitched slightly and he changed the subject. 

TK, TK had been pretty alright, but then he was always a tough kid. Tai thought that the relationship between his parents had improved a little - the tragedy of losing their children had brought them together, although they showed no willingness to get too close. Still, Matt and TK had the chance to see each other more often, and that was great. Hang on, that makes six kids accounted for, the other is... 

With a start, he remembered Joe, and realised he hadn't spoken to him since they'd gone to Jennai's house. Joe didn't really fit in as easily as some of the other kids did, and he was all on his own at his school. He would need his friends. Tai decided he might stop by the middle school on his way. 

Soon the familiar gates appeared and he - being Tai - eagerly jumped the fence rather than bother walking a few more metres to enter by the more conventional route. Students were pouring out of the school or hanging around outside, and Tai looked around, wondering where he might find Joe, assuming he hadn't already gone home. 

He thought he heard the strains of a familiar voice and turned in surprise. He hadn't anticipated this, of all things. 

Joe was standing under a tree with about six other people, his posture a little awkward as always, but his face relaxed. A girl he was standing with said something that made the others, including Joe, laugh. Another boy turned to Joe and asked him something. Joe grinned and answered - Tai couldn't quite make out the reply, but it made them all laugh again. 

Tai grinned a little, although for some reason he felt a bit - hurt? That was strange, he thought, annoyed at himself, he should be happy that Joe had new friends, but there was still a stubborn spiking inside him that was offended that Joe didn't need his friendship. 

He took a few surreptitious steps backwards, but then Joe turned his head slightly and saw him. His face brightened and he called out "hey, Tai!" He said something to the rest of the group, and ran out to meet Tai. 

"Hey, Tai," he said, looking genuinely pleased to see him, "what are you doing here?" 

Tai, a little surprised at Joe's reaction, grinned back. "Just thought I'd pay you a visit. Last I heard, you were mad brawling!" 

Joe's expression sobered a little. Tai looked at him more closely and was shocked. He had a long scar down one side, and a bandage over the other. His glasses were a little different from his last pair. These things alone weren't enough to worry him so much, but the changes in Joe's expression were more marked; his face was pale, and drawn, and his eyes dark, with bags under them. 

"Yeah, well, maybe some good things came out of that," said Joe thoughtfully, not noticing - or pretending not to notice - Tai's scrutinising gaze. "Jae's not seriously hurt, and at least people don't think I'm such a wimp any more." 

"That's great," said Tai cautiously, "but there's something else, isn't there?" 

"Well, my parents weren't too happy I was fighting, as you can imagine!..." 

He didn't say any more on that, and Tai didn't push him. They walked along in silence and presently sat down on a low wall. Soon they were talking about the other digidestined, Tai talking about how some of them seemed a little better or a little worse. 

"...but it's weird, he's talking a lot more but saying less, if you know what I mean. Kind of like he's embarassed to show what he's really thinking, like people will laugh at him." 

"Like you," said Joe, suddenly. Tai was surprised. 

"Whaddya mean? I'm always saying stuff! Can't shut me up!" 

"Yeah, but you've never said a word about how you feel on all this." 

Tai stared at him. 

"You don't look too good, Tai." 

"Thanks a lot..." 

Tai got up and kicked at some leaves moodily, a restless look on his face. He hadn't really thought about it, but maybe Joe was right. He glanced back at the older boy who was watching him calmly, patiently. He sighed and sat back down, swinging his legs against the wall. 

"Maybe you're right," he said, "but... I... I guess I..." 

"You're putting yourself on hold until Agumon comes back, aren't you?" 

"Guess so." 

Everything Joe was saying made him more surprised; he hadn't realised the other boy was perceptive. But Tai didn't want to confront his feelings. 

"What about you?" he snapped suddenly, "you're not saying anything either!" 

"I don't have anyone to tell," said Joe, simply, "besides, I'm used to dealing with things on my own. You're more outgoing." 

"Fine then," said Tai, "I'll tell you my problems if you'll tell me yours." 

"You go first." 

The two suddenly started laughing at the absurdity of it. 

"Well, I dunno, I never really thought about it before... maybe I never let myself... well, it just feels like a letdown being back in normal life. Playing soccer a lot kinda helps, but it's not the same. I mean, it feels like I'm not doing anything useful, and I got all this energy..." 

"I think I know what you mean," said Joe, "when I came back, it was like I was waiting for something, but there didn't seem any point in looking for it. " 

"Yeah! I didn't know how to look for it." 

"Do you think it's our Digimon we were waiting for?" 

"Well, I've felt a bit better since I heard they were coming here. But in a way it's worse, 'cos now I'm just, like you said, on hold until they show up." 

"And this world is so different to the digiworld. It feels weird being back in it, everyone seems to act so strangely." 

"I know! One minute you're trying to work out how to beat this horrible threat that's gonna destroy both worlds, and the next you're sitting in class listening to the people behind you talk about how so-and-so has a crush on such-and-such..." 

"Yeah, and nobody knows the risks we ran, the things we did..." 

"Going from the legendary digidestined, saviours of worlds, to 'that kid with the weird hair' or something. Just another kid sitting in class." 

"Do the others feel the same way?" 

"We haven't really talked about it, I guess." 

"That's bad." 

"But I think some of them might feel that way sometimes. How couldn't they?" 

"What were you doing last week?" 

"Huh?" 

"Risking your life or something, I heard?" 

"How'd you know about that?!" 

"Mimi mentioned it to me, actually. Why were you doing that?" 

"Guess I got addicted to danger!" 

"Be serious!" 

"I am!" 

"Huh..." 

There was a pause. 

"Tai, do you ever get... bad dreams?" 

"Bad dreams? Nah, I don't remember my dreams. Except one, and that was pretty cool, Agumon came to our world as a human except he had orange skin and he kept pepper-breathing every rotten teacher I have, and then I kicked the winning goal and Agumon suddenly got wings and he was waving candles around, and Sora showed up carrying the soccer ball, which for some reason was bright purple... why, do you get 'em?" 

"Well, yeah. Every night, actually." 

"What about?" 

Joe stared at the ground. 

"Mostly... bad Digimon, I guess. Monsters attacking, and me standing there helpless or something. My friends dying. Gomamon turning into Metalseadramon and attacking me... people screaming... both worlds being ripped apart." 

"Woah. So you're having some trouble getting to sleep?" 

"How'd you work that out?" 

"Your eyes. You've got these huge bags under them. What did you mean before when you said you couldn't talk to anyone? You've got friends now, haven't you?" 

"Well, yeah, but we don't talk about serious stuff a lot. Anyway, how can I tell people I only met a few days ago that I miss a talking sea-mammal with a mohawk?" 

"Why can't you talk to your family?" 

"Hah! You obviously don't know my parents." 

"You never talk about them." 

"I wouldn't know what to say. They've been acting weird lately. Mom's way less protective than she was before, it's like she doesn't care any more. And I never have a clue what Dad's thinking." 

There was another pause. 

"So, what're you doing this weekend, Joe?" 

It was an obvious attempt to lighten things, and Joe grinned a little. 

"I thought I might go to the beach tomorrow." 

"With your friends from school?" 

"Nah... it's like we were talking about before, it's like I'm looking for something. Anyway, the beach reminds me of..." 

"Gomamon..." 

"Right. It'd be kind of strange having people who didn't understand around some place like that." 

"You have a point. Well, I really should go before I miss my bus. Got to keep up my soccer practise!" 

"And homework," added Joe, a smile playing around his lips. 

"Homework? Oh yeah, yeah, homework! Of course!... heh... well, catch you around!" 

Joe gave a little wave and Tai jumped up, walking on down the street. He glanced back at Joe, who was staring at the street, muttering something to himself. Tai couldn't help smiling a little. He might have been clumsy and awkward and kind of funny, but Joe was pretty good to talk to. 

~~Mimi~~

Mimi sighed a little, tucked her hair carefully behind her ears and settled herself comfortably in a beanbag. What a week! Just the time for some r&r. She opened a can of soft drink and turned on the TV. 

"Oh, Mimi," said her mother, coming into the room, "you're home! Wonderful! How about a mother-daughter night? Your father said he'll be late home, so we could go out and catch a movie, or just veg out, paint our nails, that sort of thing!" 

Mimi forced a smile. Her mother had been a little strange lately. She got up and gave her a kiss on the cheek. 

"Thanks, Mom," she said, "but I sorta feel like being alone right now." 

She realised, with surprise, that this was true. Usually she would hate to be by herself for more than a couple of minutes, but even her mother expected her to act a certain way, and she just wanted to escape that sort of thing for a little while. 

Her mother reacted with consternation. 

"Oh dear, really? But are you sure that's good for you? You know how proud I am of you! How about we go out and I'll treat you to a nice strawberry milkshake at the cafe down the road! You love those!" 

Mimi was tempted but shook her head. 

"C'mooon, Mimiii," implored her mother, "smile! Is something on your mind? You can tell me about it, right?" 

"You wouldn't understand," said Mimi. 

"Of course I'd understand," said her mother, "please, darling!" 

"STOP BOTHERING ME!" shouted Mimi, losing her patience, and she ran into her room, slamming the door. 

Mimi's mother looked after her daughter and sighed. She had been worried about Mimi but she couldn't get her to talk about anything serious. Maybe it was a problem with her... maybe her daughter didn't respect her enough to confide in her. 

She leaned back against the kitchen counter. Well, surely things would improve with time. She could make strawberry milkshakes herself, anyway. Right? 

Mimi sat on her bed and stared at the door. She wasn't sure what was wrong with her. Her mom was only trying to help. Now she could hear her banging things around the kitchen. Probably about to embark on another culinary disaster. 

Maybe her mother was right though... maybe she should talk to someone. But who? None of her normal friends would understand, they didn't know she had been in Digiworld and when she tried to tell them, nobody believed her anyway. Her digidestined friends... well, it was kind of embarassing to talk to them at school. Tai was so _rough_, and looked like he had put his clothes on with a shovel. Sora was the type of girl she heard her friends bitching about, Kari and TK were too young to talk to - just the other day she had seen TK blowing bubbles in his milk - and Izzy was always buried in the computer club room, like a nerd or something. 

She cringed involuntarily. Really, her friends were kind of... well, _embarassing_. 

Matt was usually okay, but she was kind of mad at him ever since he introduced her to his annoying friend, Jake. Jake had been bothering her for most of the week, waiting casually by her locker (which was halfway across the school from his, so who did he think he was kidding?) or accidentally meeting her in the corridors. 

And then there was Joe, who was probably more of an embarassment than all her other friends put together. But then, he'd always made her feel kind of good about herself. She had surprised herself by talking to him more that week than anyone else; long phone conversations each night, usually ended by him having to go do some more study. 

Would it have been the same if they went to the same school? Would she have dared to be caught dead with him, with his daggy clothes and large glasses and weird clumsy way of moving? She suspected it would have been an awful lot more difficult. 

She suddenly thought that maybe she was being kind of shallow. Maybe she shouldn't be so embarassed about her friends just because of how they seemed; really, they were the best friends she had ever had. Maybe. 

What would it be like when Palmon came, though? She would be a bigger embarassment than any of them. Mimi pictured her as a human, short and dumpy, with green warty skin and weird frizzy hair. Palmon would be counting on her to be her friend, especially because she probably wouldn't be able to get many others. Palmon had been such a great friend to her in the digital world, but would she be able to return the favour? 

She suddenly remembered waving goodbye to her friends, Ogremon, Frigimon, Meramon, and the small musical Digimon. Her own voice, saying "they may not have the best fashion sense, but they're the best friends we ever had!" 

What had happened to that? Was her friendship with the other girls so much more important than those real, sincere friendships she shared with people who were closer to her in the ways that mattered? 

Yes, Mimi had a lot to think about these days, but usually pushed it aside. Who needed deep and meaningfuls? They didn't help, better to be bubbly and a little ditzy. There was absolutely nothing wrong with that. People like Izzy, who thought too much, ended up with only a few friends, no parties to go to after school, and a computer for a best friend. 

But the last week, sprinkled with girls making shallow, insincere comments, or gossiping, hadn't given her much compensation. She thought back over the last week. 

*** 

"Claire, Sera! Katarina! Wait up!" 

"Hi, Mimi!"

"Hey, Mimi, heard that Jake Tsuyosa was making eyes at you earlier today!"

"That guy's head-over-heels for you!" 

"I'm so jealous!" 

"Well, it's not that great... he's kind of getting on my nerves, actually." 

"Oh come on Mimi, Jake's pretty cute!" 

"Yeah, what's the problem?" 

"It's just hard keeping up with so many guys chasing me!" Mimi laughed. Actually, her parents said she couldn't date until she was fourteen, and she didn't really want to anyway. It had never stopped her from flirting before, though. Now, it just seemed kind of like a stupid idea. Why lead someone on and make them feel bad? 

She unconsciously glanced down at her chest, almost expecting to see her crest light up as a result of thinking something like that. But crests were just digital data, weren't they? Not belonging to the real world. 

"Hey, speaking of guys," said Katarina, leaning forward conspiratorily, "did you hear that Tekuza has the hots for Sora Takenouchi?" 

"THAT tomboy?!" laughed Sera, "well, they say love is blind, guess Tekuza is too!" 

"He's a bit of a runt anyway," said Claire, "don't they deserve each other?" 

Katarina grinned. "Well, of course Sora's oblivious to the whole thing. She's too busy flirting with the whole soccer team." 

"Sora, flirting?" asked Mimi, "that doesn't sound like her." 

"She's constantly joking around with all the guys!" said Sera. 

"Oh yeah, that's right, you're a friend of hers, aren't you," said Katarina. 

Mimi looked surprised. 

"Well, that's what Sora said, anyway! Of course she's not really _our_ type, I wonder where she got that idea." 

"Yeah, I don't know why she'd say that," said Mimi, swallowing hard. She immediately felt bad, and like her crest would have disappeared forever even if it were capable of showing up in this world. 

Yet she knew that saying they were friends would lead to a surprised suspicion, maybe even hostility, and that was the last thing she wanted right now. It was bad enough that they said bad things about other people, but she didn't want any of that aimed at her. Every time someone fighted she saw flashbacks in her mind. 

She would rather avoid those than face them. 

*** 

"Oh Joe, I'm just not sure what to do." 

"Have you spoken to any of them about it?" 

"Oh, of course not! That's part of the problem, you can't just talk to people like that about things!" 

"You don't need friends like that!"

"Oh, I shouldn't say mean things about them, I think I make them sound worse than they really are! They're actually quite nice most of the time, and they're really fun to hang out with! Plus they make good shopping buddies, or..." 

"Or?" 

"I don't know. When I put it like that, it just seems, like... oh, I don't know. I probably sound pretty silly!" 

"Not at all." 

In their conversations, where they didn't have to see each other's faces, they built up a picture of how the other was faring. He heard about how she was torn between friends, battling insincerity, worried about some of the other digidestined kids. How she was worried about Palmon fitting in, how schoolwork was boring her to tears and how her parents had been fussing over her more than usual. 

And she heard about how he had some new friends, someone to sit next to in a class or talk to at lunch. But he said that was as far as it went and although he thought they were pretty decent - he'd met them because they were on his side during the fight, although they hadn't spoken out at the time - they didn't usually talk seriously, and of course none of them knew he was in the digiworld. 

About how his mother was also coddling him, yet seemed strangely nervous of him, like she always wanted to say something but didn't know how. How his family never hugged or said they loved each other. How Jim had a girlfriend and was spending more time away from home, how his father seemed to have shaken off his son's heroism, deciding that life should go back to normal, and thus hassling him about his grades again. 

They were both kind of worried about each other, but it was - easier - on the phone. No social group segregation, no feeling stupid for being honest. 

*** 

Mimi smiled suddenly. No more compromising her integrity. She could fit into both groups without embarassment, surely. And she would love Palmon whatever she looked like. 

Her mother rapped on the door. 

"Mimi, sweetie," she called, and Mimi could tell her mother was nervous, "I made strawberry milkshakes, you don't have to drink it with me or anything, I just thought you might like one anyway!" 

Mimi hesitated, tears suddenly appearing in her eyes. She brushed them aside and opened the door. 

"Thanks, Mom," she said, "sorry about before. We can drink them together, it looks really delicious!" 

Her mother's face brightened, and the two sat at the dining room table, taking long sips. 

"It tastes really delicious too!" 

"Oh, you really think so?" 

"Of course! They're not as nice even at the cafe down the road!" 

Mimi politely decided not to mention the huge mess that the kitchen had become. Her mother would never be the 'ideal housewife', but she was her mother, after all. 

   [1]: mailto:leto@nysa.cx



	4. "This is how our summer should have been...

After the Storm, part 4 For the record, in this fic, Mimi is 11, Matt 12, Joe late 13 and the other digidestined the ages they are usually given in fics. By my logic, Mimi had a birthday while in the digiworld, we know Joe's a teenager, and I dunno, Matt just seemed that age at -least-.

BTW, if it seems I'm solving 'problems' (related to relationships etc) way too easily, I think so too and I'll be trying to change that a bit. Reality doesn't wrap itself into nice, neat little packages, after all. ^_^;

Also, sorry that some of these characters I'm writing about later are getting a lot more written for their parts than earlier characters. Originally it was just gonna be a coupla brief scenes to show how they were handling things but I kind of got carried away. ^_^;

**After the Storm**  
by [Leto][1]  
Part 4 - "This is how our summer should have been!"

~~TK~~ 

"Matt! Matt, Matt, Matt!" 

TK ran to open the door, tripped and ate carpet. Crawling eagerly on hands and feet he clambered the rest of the way and made it to the door in one piece. 

"TK, be careful! You really should slow down!" 

TK opened the door and sure enough, his Matt was there. He grinned and the two brothers hugged briefly. 

"Hey kid, good to see ya," said Matt, obviously pleased. TK pouted. 

"You said you wouldn't call me 'kid' any more!" 

"Sorry, kid," teased Matt. TK squawked in protest and hit him. 

"Maaaatt!" 

Matt ruffled his hair, so that it almost resembled his own, and soon the two were tumbling in a mock wrestling match. 

"You two boys stop that right now!" 

Matt and TK glanced up, both looking rather comical. Their mother didn't think so. She stood, arms folded, staring disapprovingly at them. Matt's expression instantly changed and he glared back. 

"Matt, what were you thinking?!" continued Nancy, "you could hurt him! You should take better care of your brother, or you won't be allowed to take him out any more!" 

"That's not fair," said Matt, "we were just playing!" 

"Yeah," said TK, "I got away from Puppetmon and everything!" 

Nancy blinked. 

"He means, he's not a fragile baby like you seem to think he is." 

"Don't speak to me like that," she said, "and don't teach your brother bad ideas." 

Matt glowered but said nothing, wondering why she kept calling TK 'his brother' instead of using his name. 

With Nancy Takaishi's overprotective nature aside, and Matt's resentment of her, the relationship between the two families - or one family - had improved. 

Nancy remembered her ex-husband putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder as they watched the battle in the sky. This had made things awkward later, yet somehow some of the rift between each other had slid away. At any rate, the two were able to acknowledge the selfishness of keeping two brothers who obviously loved each other seperate, especially after all they had been through together. 

TK noticed that there was some weird hostile atmosphere around when his brother and parents were all in the same place, but it didn't really bother him. Anything was an improvement on before. At least now he could actually see his dad and brother sometimes! His mom seemed kind of strange about it but at least it was happening and that's what mattered. 

That particular Saturday, the two brothers were going to the beach. Tai had called Matt the night before. As they left the house, Nancy called out things like are you absolutely sure you have your train tickets and make sure you swim between the flags and don't run around barefoot or you might step on broken glass and make sure your brother doesn't drown. 

Once outside, the two grinned at each other and relaxed. TK went along the footpath, jumping from plate to plate over the cracks. Matt followed more sedately, smiling after his brother. After everything, he still hadn't lost IT. He remembered when TK challenged Tokomon to a cleaning race, at Piximon's place. The same attitude was still alive, no Dark Master could squash that. 

Some time later, when they actually reached the beach, they looked around for Tai where they said they were going to meet. Tai wasn't there, but Mimi and Sora were. 

"Hey!" called Matt, running to meet them, "I didn't know you girls were coming!" 

"Did Tai ask to meet you too?" said TK, "oh, I hope that means Kari's coming!" 

"Hi, Matt," said Sora. She was sitting on a low wall, wearing bathers and a t-shirt. Mimi had her hair down for once and was wearing - rather predictably - a pink bikini. 

"Hi, Matt," echoed Mimi, and added, "please tell your weird friend Jake to leave me alone." 

Matt laughed and Mimi looked unimpressed. But she did seem to be in a better mood than usual. 

"Tai's the one who told us to meet him here," said Sora, "and he's not even here himself." 

"Tai's always late," said TK happily. He squatted down and started building a sand castle. Matt nudged sand across with his foot, helping without looking too involved. 

They waited for a good ten minutes longer until Tai ran up with Kari tailing behind. 

"Sorry I'm late!" shouted Tai, "thanks for waiting!" 

"Tai, do you even OWN a watch?" asked Matt. 

Tai stuck one hand sheepishly behind his head. 

"Well, sure, but it's kind of broken or slow or something, anyway I don't use it, but actually there's a really good reason why I was late, you see Dad was trying to fix our broken washing machine and he asked me to -" 

"Yeah, that's great," said Matt, hurriedly interrupting. 

Kari sat down next to TK and helped him with the sandcastle. TK felt very happy. The beach, this was like the summer vacation he'd missed. And he was here with his brother and other friends, the big kids, and his mom wasn't telling him off. 

It would be even better once Patamon came. 

"Well, let's go and get busy relaxing!" said Tai happily. 

"Hey, I didn't get to finish," TK protested. 

"No prob," said Tai, taking off his shirt and scooping up the sandcastle in it. Everyone sweatdropped. 

"Hey, Tai," said Matt, "the whole beach is covered in sand, I don't think you really need to carry it around with you." 

"We're just relocating, right TK?" 

TK laughed as Tai imitated (poorly) the sound of a moving van. "Mwee, mwee, mwee, vrooooooooooooooom -" 

"Have you got indigestion?" asked Sora, and Matt snorted. He no longer minded that his little brother liked Tai; it was like Gabumon said, Matt was his brother, Tai wasn't. 

"Tai, that's disgusting!" said Mimi, wrinkling up her nose. 

Tai grinned, "you can help me carry it if you like!" and tossed a handful of sand at her. Mimi squealed, bent down and threw some sand back. 

Predictably, five seconds later the six children were engaged in a massive sand fight, even Mimi and Matt whooping and dodging and ignoring the one or two disapproving stares they were getting from nearby beachgoers. 

When they did calm down, Matt had sand heavily caked through his hair. 

"You know this is gonna take hours to fix," he complained half-heartedly. 

Mimi was caked with sand almost completely. "Well, they say mud masks are good for the skin, I guess a sand mask is just as good! But can we go swimming soon anyway?" 

Sora laughed and dug her toes into the sand. TK and Kari settled into a new sandcastle, which TK claimed would contain turrets and underground passages and a moat. In fact, it turned out to look exactly like a big lump of sand with holes in it, but the others pretended to admire it anyway. 

Tai was glancing all around as though he were expecting to see someone. 

"Hey Tai," said Sora, "is Izzy coming?" 

"Nope," said Tai, "he said he had to do more work on the Digimon." 

"He still didn't let me help him yet," said Kari. 

"He's working way too hard," said Sora worriedly, "I really think he should be resting more." 

"Yeah," said Tai, "his mom said he's been at Jennai's every night this week, and even stayed overnight once. I bet he was working all night." 

"Jennai should make him rest," said Sora, "what sort of father is he anyway." 

"Izzy's been kind of strange lately," said Matt, "I agree with you two, he's getting way overinvolved with this. I mean, it's really important that our Digimon come here but it wouldn't matter that much if they took a few extra days, would it?" 

"Yeah, he's gone weird," said TK, "he got mad when I asked him about Patamon." 

"If only he'd pry himself away from the computer for long enough so that one of us could talk to him!" said Sora, "I'm sure this isn't good for him." 

Tai glanced around as a few people walked behind him. 

"Why do you keep looking around then?" asked Sora. 

"I'm looking for Joe," said Tai. 

"Was he supposed to meet us here?" asked Mimi, surprised and sounding a little odd. 

"Well, no, but he said he was coming to the beach today so I thought we might surprise him!" 

"Do you even know what time he's coming, Tai?" 

"Well... no, but I'm sure he'll be here any minute, hahahah..." 

"Hey, I know how to find him if he's here," said TK. "Matt, guard the castle!" 

He ran into the water until the water ran level with his neck. Then he started floundering around, sputtering and shouted "help, I'm drowning!" 

"I don't think he should pretend about things like that," said Sora dubiously, but at the next moment someone had waded up to TK and was holding his head above the water. 

"Hey, take it easy," they could hear him say, "breathe, little guy... hey, TK?" 

"Hi, Joe!" said TK happily, and grabbed his hand, "we were looking for you!" 

"You were?" 

Joe sweatdropped as he saw his friends at the shore, all covered with sand. They waved sheepishly as the two came back to them. 

"I don't know why it works," said TK, "it just works! Surefire way of finding Joe!" 

"Hey, everyone," said Joe in his usual calm way, "what are you all doing here?" 

"Well, it was such a nice day," said Tai, "we just thought we'd keep you company!" 

"Yeah, the beach is a much nicer place to be when you're with your friends," said Sora. 

Matt nodded. "For sure. I mean, if you go by yourself you don't get sand in your hair, or your brother making a public scene by pretending to drown, or Tai embarassing you by looking like the Abominable Sandman or something." 

"Hey, I always look like this," said Tai. 

"Hit the nail on the head!" 

"Hey!" 

Joe sweatdropped as the two started scuffling, sending sand flying. "Why is it those two are always engaged in some sort of wrestling match?" 

"They're boys," said Kari, with the air of someone long-suffering. 

"They're brothers!" said TK, and laughed. 

This was what life should be all the time! thought TK. Everyone was back together again. Everyone had been acting weird and kind of different at school, and everyone expected him and Kari to stay with kids their own age. But somehow those kids seemed kind of childish. 

TK puffed his chest out a little; he DID feel older. Maybe he was still the shortest but he'd catch up. At least nobody was acting embarassed to be seen with him. 

Kari giggled and dumped wet sand on his chest. He yelped and jumped to his feet, grabbing sand in both hands. 

"Hey, don't start that again!" protested Sora. 

Mimi and Joe lay back on their towels, smiling at each other a little self-consciously before staring out at the sea, enjoying the feel of the sun on their skin. Tai pulled Sora to her feet and, procuring an inflateable beachball, challenged her to a game of water-soccer. Sora, probably out of morbid curiousity as to how exactly such a game would be played, accepted the challenge. 

Matt sat and watched as TK and Kari patted sand around the front of their sandcastle (the drawbridge, apparently), occasionally offering a word of advice here and there. Tai ran into the water and started screaming that it was horribly cold. Sora laughed and splashed him until his huge mop of hair was hanging down around his face, completely obscuring his vision. 

"See, that's why I wear goggles!" he said, trying to prop his hair over his goggles, but they weren't strong enough to support such a mighty structure. He gave up and instead ran up to Sora and threw a big wodge of wet sand down her top. She screeched, grabbed the inflateable beachball and started beating him over the head with it. 

Then, the others simultaneously found themselves unable to resist the water any longer. Kari ran in to 'defend her brother' (in other words, send up a great torrent of splashes in Sora's direction, half of which hit Tai anyway), TK shouted that they should have a waterfight now that they'd had a sandfight, Mimi laughed and ran into the waves, dragging Joe behind her. 

"Sea water really ruins your hair," said Matt, which for some reason made everyone crack up. Tai tried to splash him from several metres back, but Matt lay back in the sun and smirked; there was no way he could reach. So Tai ran up, grabbed his sand-covered shirt and soaked it in water. 

Everyone else was laughing really hard by now, as Tai ran back to Matt and squeezed the wet shirt over his bare chest. Matt leapt up, screaming and swearing as cold water poured all over him. He jumped up at Tai who nimbly leapt back and fell on his butt in the sea. 

In two seconds, the two boys were wrestling again. 

"You know, you two should really think about joining WWF," said Mimi. 

"Hey, Matt, what does *$%@ mean?" asked TK innocently. In fact, he knew perfectly well, but the question had the desired effect; Matt turned bright red. 

"Uhhhhh, you don't need to know that TK!" he said hurriedly, "uh, I think I'll come into the water now. AND KILL TAI!" 

Actually, Matt was already in the water, but nobody picked him on that. They were still laughing too hard. 

A couple of hours' worth of 'water-soccer', swimming races, lying on the sand in the shallow water, jumping waves and waterfights later, everyone was back on the shore again. Mimi sunbathing, Matt drawing in the sand with a stick, Kari and TK digging a huge hole (for what purpose, nobody quite knew, but someone had stepped on their sandcastle when they were in the water), Sora and Tai were building sand 'cars' around each other and Joe was lying on his stomach, reading a book. 

"Hey," said Matt, drawing a picture of Gabumon, "in a few weeks' time, we should come here again. Same place, same group of people, except we bring our Digimon too." 

"Yeah, this has been the best day," said Sora. 

"Draw Patamon next!" said TK. 

"What is that picture?" asked Mimi, pointing. 

"That's Gabumon!" said Matt. 

"Oh," said Mimi blankly, "it looks kind of like an iguana to me." 

"An iguana?! Don't you know true art when you see it?" 

"I sure do," teased Mimi, "so I guess I'm not seeing it, huh!" 

"Hey Sora," said Tai, "that car brand is infinitely inferior to mine!" 

Sora sweatdropped. "This car has a brand? It looks just like a bunch of sand built around my legs to me." 

Mimi leaned over helpfully. "Well, if you just make one or two little tiny modifications, you could get a really stylish automobile going there!" 

"Yeah, I'll help too," said Matt, "you'll cream Tai's car!" 

"Hey, no fair!" cried Tai, trying to reach out for more sand while rendered immobile by the sand caked around him, "you're getting help!" 

"We'll help you, Tai," said Kari. 

"Yeah, we'll use the sand we scooped out of our hole!" said TK. 

"Thanks," said Tai, with a little sweatdrop. 

Mimi was trying to make Sora's 'car' sleeker and more feminine, while Matt was trying to make it into a real man's car, the good ol' four-wheel drive. Needless to say, it began to look pretty odd. 

"Hey guys," said Joe, with interest, "that car looks more like a mutant tank to me." 

"It's not a tank," said Matt, "it's a technological masterpiece." 

"Otherwise known as a bomb," cracked Sora. 

"Hey, Mimi!" 

Mimi turned in surprise to hear her name called. Her legs and hands were covered in sand, and there was some streaked through her hair as well. She was in the middle of patting sand onto Sora's legs, and she looked rather a contrast to her friends Sera, Claire, Pai and Katarina, who all looked perfectly composed and pretty in bikini tops and sarongs. 

"Oh, hi guys," she said, sweatdropping. They looked, a little disdainfully, around at her friends. Joe put his book down and sat up a little, resting his head on one hand. Kari and TK smiled, a little confused at why everyone's expressions had changed. 

TK stood up and smiled at Mimi's friends. 

"Are you girls friends of Mimi's?" he asked, "nice to meet ya!" 

Claire smiled and bent down to his height. "Hi kid," she said, "what's your name?" 

"I'm TK! And I'm not as small as I look!" 

"Well, you look pretty small from where I'm standing," said Sera, but not in a nasty voice, "Mimi, are you babysitting?" 

"Oh no," she said, laughing, but guarded - nervous, "I'm just hanging out, you know." 

Katarina's cool eyes scanned the group quickly. "These are friends of yours?" 

Mimi was on the spot now, kind of frozen. She didn't seem to know how to answer. TK thought he would help. 

"We sure are!" he said, "we're the digidestined!" 

"'Digidestined'," repeated Pai, "what does that mean?" 

"You know those monsters that appeared a few months ago?" said Kari quietly, "we were all the ones who fought them and saved the city." 

Matt groaned inwardly. Younger kids were too honest. 

"Sure, little girl," said Katarina kindly, "but really, Mimi, you should have told us you were going to the beach. We could have gone together! Instead of you with these... um..." 

"I thought you said you weren't friends with Sora," said Claire, looking from Mimi to Sora. Mimi opened and shut her mouth, still saying nothing, and Sora went very still. Her face was impassive. 

There was a long silence, while all the digidestined looked at each other, and at the girls. TK decided to 'help' again. 

"Oh, you must have heard wrong!" said TK, "those two are really good friends! They fought Cockatrimon together and everything, and Sora helped Mimi up when the huge angry Kuwagamon was attacking and at the convention centre Sora left to get help!" 

"Do you, like, understand a word he's saying?" whispered Pai. 

"Not one," whispered Sera. 

Mimi finally unfroze, standing up, brushing sand off her legs and laughing nervously. "Ahahahah," she said, "can we possibly-maybe discuss this somewhere a little further away?" 

"I don't know, Mimi," said Katarina, "it doesn't really look good for our image to have you clowning around in the dirt with a bunch of... er..." 

"A bunch of what?" snapped Matt. 

"Well, YOU'RE alright, Matt," said Claire cautiously, "but, ah..." 

"I don't think we want to hear more of this," said Joe calmly, "look, why don't -" 

"No," said Sora suddenly, and she sounded angry, "I want to hear this, I think." 

"Yeah," said Katarina, "what's it going to be, Mimi? Them or us?" 

Everyone looked surprised at this. 

"That's a... little drastic, don't you think?" asked Sera, worried. 

"All week long, she's been acting like she's been embarassed by us," said Sora, "I think it's a fair question, actually. She was fine hanging out with us when there was nobody else around to see her, but now that her friends are around she's frozen." 

"Well, there's more than two sides to every story," said Matt, cautiously. 

Mimi was biting her nails, and scuffling the ground with one foot. For a moment, Joe was worried she might cry or run away. She had been quite sensitive to fighting lately. But he was underestimating her. 

"I don't want to decide between my friends!" she said finally, "I shouldn't have to, anyway! But TK was right... Sora and Tai and TK and Kari and Joe and Izzy are all friends of mine!" 

"What about me," protested Matt. 

"Well, they wouldn't care if I was friends with you," said Mimi, and everyone facefaulted. But they knew what she meant. 

"They're all friends of mine," she continued, "I met them on summer camp. They turned out to be... the best friends I've ever had! Even if you don't approve... I can't... but I don't want to choose between you, you guys have been my friends since I started school. Does it matter if I have two different groups of friends?" 

"The whole point of 'our' group," said Pai, "is that we're totally different from the other kids, right?" 

"Right," affirmed Katarina, "you can't have it both ways, Mimi." 

Mimi knew they were right, really. She couldn't keep hanging out with people who made rude comments about the other people she hung out with. Yet she had heard her digidestined friends making snide comments about the sort of group that she, Sera, Claire, Katarina and Pai fell into. 

"Just remember your crest," said Joe. He was telling her, in a sort of code that the other girls wouldn't understand, to follow her heart. But it also reminded her of their last battle. Her crest was part of a collection, her self was part of a team. 

She knew her digidestined friends would probably understand if she chose to go with her old friends, and realising that helped her to make up her mind. 

"Well, you know what I'd have to choose," said Mimi finally, "I know you girls probably don't really understand but we did have to work as a team on summer camp, and we really did become kind of close, I guess I'm going to have to choose them, but you know I still..." 

"Summer camp only lasted half a day," muttered Claire, jealously. 

"Well, thanks a lot Mimi, it's nice to know how much you value your real friends," said Katarina snidely. She turned to walk away, Pai and Claire following. Sera hesitated, hissed something at Mimi and then ran after her friends. 

"She likes Jake!" 

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Sora. 

"Sera was, like, apologising, I think." 

Mimi was silent for a moment. 

"Don't worry, Mimi," said TK reassuringly, "you can play with us at lunch instead!" 

"Raahraaah, I'm an allosaurus!" 

Everyone got a mental image of Mimi running around pretending to be a dinosaur, as the younger kids had been doing the day before. They all started laughing. 

"Or hang out with Izzy in the computer club room!" 

"Yeah, and crash the whole network five minutes later!" 

"You could take up soccer!" 

"I might break a nail!" 

Everyone was laughing very hard at the thought of Mimi fitting into one of 'their' groups. People at school naturally tended to fall into distinct groups of friends; the digidestined were unusual to be friends. They each represented a different group, a different person, yet they were all friends. And none of them had to choose which they belonged to, except Mimi. Yet. 

"Hey," said Tai, speaking for the first time in a while, "how come Matt's someone they wouldn't care if you're friends with, but I'm not?" 

Mimi winced delicately. "Well, I hate to tell you this Tai but you are sitting there with a car made out of sand all around you, and that shirt IS yours, isn't it?" 

He sweatdropped. 

"What's wrong with my shirt?" 

"You wear the same clothes every day," she said, "I hope you're going to give that shirt a good wash tonight, it's absolutely disgusting." 

"Hey Mimi, I think the colour of it suits you!" 

"No way, pink's my colour!" 

"Try it on, Mimi!" 

Tai looked positively evil now. Mimi backed away from him as he jumped up, exploding crumbling sand everywhere. He grabbed his sodden, sandy, filthy shirt and advanced on her. 

"You are one of the fashion challenged digidestined now!" he said in a zombie-voice, "resistance is fertile!" 

Everyone got large sweatdrops. 

"Don't you mean futile?" ventured Sora. 

"I hope he meant futile," said Joe. 

"I don't get it," said TK. 

"Don't worry about it," said Matt quickly, "Tai's just showing how he has the same IQ as your sandcastle." 

"I'm sure there'd be lots of micro-organisms in that sandcastle," said Joe, "you don't want to belittle them, do you?" 

Matt snickered and Tai looked blank. 

"Speaking of IQs, it's getting kind of late," said Sora, "should we go and visit Izzy?" 

"Yeah, good idea." 

"Maybe we can talk to our Digimon too!" 

The group brushed the sand off themselves (Matt still muttering in dismay at the state of his hair) and were ready to go and find Izzy.

   [1]: mailto:leto@nysa.cx



	5. "What problem are you looking to solve?"

After the Storm, part 5 In case it wasn't extremely obvious already, this fic is not being written with 02 in mind; some happenings in it may/will clash with that season. ^_^.

**After the Storm**  
by [Leto][1]  
Part 5

~~Izzy~~ 

Izzy's black eyes were even blanker than usual, dull from hours of staring at his laptop. Jennai, who he was still having difficulty thinking of as his father, sat at another computer right next to them. Occasionally one of them would take a wordless bite of pizza, or a sip from one of the soft drink cans sitting between them. They worked largely in silence, except when one leaned over to point something out to the other. 

This was the task that was filling Izzy's mind. Changing the appearance of eight creatures and then copying them to another world. 

Izzy was not stupid. One can say that of him easily enough. He knew that his parents were worried about him, and his friends too. Yet the freedom he was being given in this was more than he had expected. He remembered hearing his mother say, some time ago, that Izzy should be free to make his own mistakes. Was he making a mistake? Of course not. With this freedom, he could find his own limits. 

The work itself was at times routine, at times tedious or frustrating, and at times extremely interesting. Izzy had always enjoyed solving puzzles and there were plenty of problems to overcome here. 

"Do you think we could modify the structure of Biyomon's arms?" 

"Turning them into arms, you mean? Remember the tendons connecting the feathers to the bones..." 

"Yes, the feathers... how are we supposed to get rid of them?" 

"Well, they're made out of keratin." 

"You're suggesting we try to change the feathers into skin, and then perhaps lighten the pigment?" 

"Don't forget that her ability to digivolve is programmed into her. I don't think it will be that easy to change her bird features." 

He and Jennai had spent half an hour discussing different ways of reconfiguring Biyomon's arms, and the end result did not really please either of them. 

Jennai had maintained that her wings could not be eradicated entirely, as they were too much a fundamental part of herself. Izzy insisted that it would be possible to change them into arms, which brought out a few new issues, like colour change, modifying the hands and changing the overall structure to alter the purpose of the appendages. For each argument there were a number of more technical aspects that needed to be discussed, as well as aspects of her relating to digivolutions. 

In the end they compromised. 

Izzy was kind of worried about his friends' reactions. Would they be mad when they found out how Izzy had programmed their friends to look? Or get mad that he hadn't tried harder to change this or that? 

As things were, after a week of solid, hard work, they hadn't even completed the reconfiguration of one Digimon. Gabumon, Gomamon, Patamon (and soon Biyomon) all had some anatomical modifications, but they were generally far from complete, and they were the easier ones, the more mammalian ones. He dreaded to imagine the complications that would arise with his own Digimon, or Palmon. How can you make a metal bug, or a plant, a convincing human? 

Actually, Patamon was nearly done, and surprisingly easy. Jennai theorised that this was due to his digivolutions' resemblance to humans to begin with. Gatomon, on the other hand, proved remarkably difficult. There was something about her the two engineers couldn't understand. 

Jennai was good to work with. He took things seriously and expected Izzy to do the same, treated him as an equal, taught him many new things, and best of all, he never, never patronised his son. 

Yet... he didn't seem like a father. For example, encouraging him to stay up past two to "just get that last mathematical equation out" or ordering pizza for the last three nights. 

Izzy found himself missing his father's encouragement to come outside and play one-on-one baseball, or his mother calling him to the dinner table. He hadn't been home much that week. Yet he was doing this task for all his friends, and it was important, he knew that. 

And he knew the importance of doing things as quickly as possible. Once they had begun the task, they had to work hard to keep doing it. It was disadvantageous to the Digimon to exist in unfamiliar half-human forms for longer than necessary; while the time barrier between worlds had largely disappeared with Apocalymon's defeat, it still wasn't wise for them to be around for weeks with possible virus Digimon who might take advantage of their weaker states to attack. 

Also, despite his distraction, his continual preoccupation with mentally trying out answers to problems in his head while other people were talking, he couldn't miss the tone of voice when the others mentioned their Digimon. They were all hanging out for their Digimon to come back. 

Just like he was. 

And, if truth was to be told, he really was caught up in the task. He wanted to feel closer to his crest. The things they taught him in school; things he had learnt years ago, seemed frivolous and stupid. Now he was learning to manipulate whole worlds. To use his knowledge in a way that nobody else ever had, to do something great. 

His fingers flew naturally over the keys, and he neared the end of a more mindless section of work. Now he had to stop thinking and concentrate solely on the task. Let's see, how could - waah! 

The doorbell rang. Izzy glanced over at Jennai. 

"Hey, Je - er, father? The doorbell?" 

Jennai didn't stir, still staring intently at the screen as though in thought. 

"Father! HEY! Doorbell!" 

Jennai scratched his chin, brightened a little and resumed typing. Obviously he hadn't heard a word. Izzy sweatdropped. Seemed the saying "like father, like son" had some degree of truth. He slid off his chair and walked (rather awkwardly after hours of sitting still) to answer the door. 

"Hiiii!" chorused his friends. He blinked and felt nervous suddenly. Were they here to check his progress? There was usually someone asking after their Digimon. He didn't want to tell them that they still hadn't done a whole lot, that there were still problems he wasn't sure if they could solve, that their Digimon might have deformities when they became humans. Did they suspect that? They looked pretty bright. 

"Hi," said Izzy blankly. 

"We came to visit!" said Tai cheerfully, "you need to drag yourself away from that computer for a minute!" 

"Why?" asked Izzy suspiciously, "don't you want me to bring our Digimon here?" 

"Of course we do," said Sora, "but you shouldn't wreck yourself while you do it!" 

"You should have come to the beach with us, Izzy," said Joe. 

Izzy squinted. 

"Oh, I thought Matt had sand in his hair." 

Matt went red and casually put both arms over his head. (As you might imagine, this gesture did not produce a very casual effect at all.) 

"Can we come in?" asked Mimi, "I walked all the way from the train station and my poor little feet are really quite exhausted!" 

"You'd think she'd be used to walking by now," said Tai. 

"Yes, but this is walking on real roads," said Mimi. Apparently this made sense to her, although everyone else got a strange expression on their face. 

"Oh, well, sure you can come in," said Izzy, still seeming restless, "but I can't really take more time off. See, I was just up to this stage of reconfiguration where -" 

"No arguments!" said Mimi, "you're taking a break!" 

So they all sat in Jennai's living room, relaxing into soft couches, although Izzy was sitting on the edge of his, glancing furtively around. 

"Hey Izzy, you expecting a Kuwagamon to attack you or what?" asked Tai. 

"You don't look very relaxed," agreed Joe, putting his two large feet on the coffee table and looking fairly relaxed himself. 

Izzy twitched slightly. 

"I think he's flipping out," whispered Mimi matter-of-factly to TK, who nodded bewilderedly. 

"I heard that," he snapped, "I'm not flipping out! I'm just working very hard! I'm sure that's an absolutely unreconcilable concept to your way of thinking, but some of us do enjoy engaging in intellectual pursuits!" 

"What does that mean?" asked Mimi. 

"He said, you might find it hard to understand but he likes doing things where he has to think," translated Joe. 

"Ah." 

"You don't have to do it alone," said Kari kindly, "you know we're all -" 

"Stop offering to help me!" shouted Izzy, "don't you get it, you'll just get in the way and undo all the work we've done! It's difficult enough to do the basics, let alone spend an extra week repairing your mistakes? And you've asked me half a dozen times this week!" 

"Hey, don't shout at Kari!" shouted Tai, "she's only being nice!" 

"I don't need her niceness, I just want to be left alone so I can get the job done. Why can't any of you understand that? And TAKE YOUR BLOODY FEET OFF THE TABLE!" 

Joe jumped, and guiltily complied. Izzy swearing; a novelty, and a dangerous sign. 

"Uncouth... busybodies... inquisitors..." Izzy was muttering under his breath. Everyone else glanced at each other nervously. 

"And stop looking at each other like that!" 

"C'mon, guys," said Tai, getting angry, "I can see we're not wanted here." 

"Wow Tai, that's really observant of you," said Izzy, "more so than usual." 

"Now, both of you calm down," said Sora, "let's just talk about this like civilised people." 

"I'd rather not," said Izzy coolly, "I really should get back to work." 

"Hey man, what's your problem," said Matt, getting annoyed himself, "you're the one who volunteered for this job, now you're getting all obsessive over it. Who're your real friends, the computer or us?" 

"Tentomon, actually," snapped Izzy, which shut them all up. They looked at each other nervously again, and as a group, rose to leave. 

"See you at school next week," mumbled Izzy, not looking at them. 

"Yeah, see you," said Sora awkwardly. The others didn't say anything. After another pause, they left. 

Izzy sighed a little, then turned to go back to the computer. He started as he saw Jennai standing in the doorway. His expression was calm but Izzy could tell he disapproved. 

"Go," said Jennai, and pointed at the front door, where the digidestined had just left. 

"Huh?" 

"Go after them, Koushirou." 

"But our work -" 

"It can wait. They're more important, for the moment, don't you think?" 

Izzy wasn't sure. He did know that everyone had been getting on his nerves lately. He wasn't usually so irritable. Perhaps it was motivated by the reduction of sleep, he thought, with his usual articulate cautiousness. He had a very logical mind. That's why he found it difficult to register emotion; he wasn't sure how that was supposed to be delivered, and it troubled him that he often couldn't find words for it. Anything that couldn't be expressed intellectually faintly disturbed him. 

Now it was erupting unpredictably, incongruent with the way his logical thoughts were proceeding. 

"Why're you talking like that? It's too late to talk like your my father, isn't it? You weren't present when I heard my parents say I was adopted and lay awake wondering why my real parents had left me! You can't turn around and tell me what to do!" 

"Why are you shouting?" asked Jennai, very calmly, his face impassive as usual. "You're not usually so emotional." 

"And don't patronise me!" shouted Izzy. 

"Are you done shouting?" asked Jennai, "I don't generally like communicating with someone incapable of conversing at a reasonable decibal level." 

Izzy sighed, rubbed his eyes and looked at the carpet. 

"I'm not telling you as some pseudo paternal figure," said Jennai, "I'm telling you as your mentor or your friend. It's really your decision, of course. But if your friends are important to you, you really ought to go soon before they leave the area entirely." 

Izzy didn't say anything, just turned and walked back in the direction of the computer room. Jennai sighed a little, until he heard the back door slam. He shook his head and smiled. 

"That boy of mine... has a habit of surprising even me." 

*** 

Izzy ran down the street, feeling kind of dazed. He was not used to feeling that way, and it bothered him. Actually, he didn't even really know why he was going after his friends. They'd probably forgive him anyway, and besides, he wasn't really all that sorry. But there was still something that seemed to say, friends should be followed. 

Actually, he didn't really care. He was tired, and emotions seemed like a waste of energy. He wasn't about to work out what his feelings were. 

His friends were walking slowly, engaged in conversation, so of course they were not difficult to overtake. They heard him coming (Izzy ran with all the grace and elegance of a drunken Monochromon, or possibly just a short version of Joe) and stopped accordingly. Matt rested both hands behind his head, sticking both arms out in his typical 'indifferent' pose and didn't turn around. Tai did, looking annoyed (obviously, they had been talking angrily about him before he ran up) but more ready to listen. 

"Hey," said Izzy, hesitating to get his breath back. 

"Hey," said Joe, Kari and TK awkwardly. Mimi looked upset, Sora as though she was going to wait until she passed judgement, and the other boys angry. 

"Sorry," said Izzy, "I didn't really mean those things I said before, and I certainly didn't mean to yell at all of you." 

He had, actually, meant both of those things, but he couldn't explain why he had become so annoyed, and knew an apology was just easier. 

"Well, at least you apologised," mumbled Tai, "I guess I can't really stay mad, not like I've never made a mistake in my life." 

Some of the digidestined smiled at that; he'd made a lot more mistakes as a digidestined than any of them. None of the others knew about when Tai himself had been under pressure and punched Izzy. 

"Don't worry about it, Izzy," said Sora, "we understand." 

"Guess it must be kinda hard to do all that work," agreed TK. 

Surprisingly - or not, perhaps - it was Mimi who picked up on the insincerity of his apology. 

"You didn't mean that apology at all," she said firmly, "you've just been snappy all week long, and when you said sorry just then you didn't say you were going to stop, either!" 

"You'd be snappy too if you were smart enough to understand what I've been doing. It really is quite a taxing -" 

"You're acting like you're the only one here who's ever made any sacrifice for friendship," yelled Mimi (generally incapable of speaking normally when upset), "at least you had a choice! Anyway, didn't we fight in Digiworld so we wouldn't have to fight here? The problems we have in the real world are nothing compared to saving the world!" 

"Mimi's right," said Matt, "leaving the digiworld was hard on all of us, but you know, things are made a little easier if we just talk to each other." 

"You don't have to do it all on your own," said Joe. 

"That's the one thing you guys don't understand," said Izzy, "I WANT to do it on my own. Maybe it benefits you guys to 'talk about your problems' but I'd really rather not. Anyway, this is just something I have to do, and I can do it best if there aren't any distractions. And it's a big responsibility I have here; the reason I hate it when you ask me about your Digimon is because it is far too difficult for me to explain so that you're able to comprehend, and besides, I don't want you to worry or try to offer advice on things you don't understand." 

Izzy sighed after this long speech and rubbed at his eyes. 

"I should probably go." He bowed slightly. "Sorry to have made you worry." 

He turned and trudged back down the street, not sure if he had helped things or made them worse. He thought of something and turned back. 

"By the way," he called, "thanks for coming." 

He thought he saw them nod back, then returned to Jennai's house - or home. 

*** 

"Sorry about what I said before," mumbled Izzy awkwardly, "but I kind of meant what I said, you don't feel much like my dad at all." 

"Of course I don't, your dad is quite a different person to me." 

"Still, you are my real father." 

"By blood only, that was your decision." 

Izzy looked up at Jennai, into those black eyes so similar to his own. He was suddenly shocked, he could sense the sadness in them, and Izzy was not normally a sensitive person. 

But why shouldn't he be sad? His father, trapped in a foreign world for thousands of years, living for longer than any other human had, yet without human contact, wondering about his son, mourning his wife, wishing he could return to his home, where the life he loved so much was. 

His father had never wanted to abandon him. He was suddenly grateful to the digital world. Maybe it was a prison, but it held his best friend, and it had preserved his father, who would have otherwise been lost forever. 

"Why don't you act like a father to me?" 

"Do you think I don't act like a father?" 

"Well, we've had pizza for the last three nights, that shows you're not really fussy about my proper nutrition. And you permitted me to stay up late, even encouraged me to skip my homework once." 

"You have to push yourself, Koushirou. You have to push yourself until you reach the very edge of what you want to learn, so that there's nothing left you want to find out, and then you'll find more. You have the intellectual maturity of an adult, and I will treat you as one, although as you have learned you can still be a child. Becoming an adult is all about winning control over your emotions." 

"Controlling your emotions..." 

"That's right, and understanding yourself. Koushirou, you're not naturally an emotional person, so you don't have a lot of experience dealing with such things. So you'll find it more difficult than some people to handle your emotions so they build up until you have to express them. That's dangerous." 

"How do you know what I'm like?" 

"I may not be a very good father, but we are related. You're not so different to how I once was. And if you are like me, you will find that one day your intelligence is nothing but a tool, an extremely useful tool that will give you many years of fulfillment, but in the end, relationships are what matters." 

Izzy looked at the ground, not willing to look into Jennai's eyes any longer. It must have been a difficult lesson to learn. Obviously, his father was still finding it hard to come to terms with his mother's death. 

"Koushirou, I don't know if you resent my saying this or not; you are right, I waived my right to be your father when I left you. But even if I cannot be your father, I still care about you. I want you to know this in your head at least. And I have been alive for longer than any other human, so I have picked up a thing or two about life. 

I want to teach it to you even if it's not a father-son talk. I want to talk to you seriously for once, about things that matter. Knowledge is a valuable thing, you have felt its power yourself. Always seek it and be informed. I can't tell you to ignore that part of yourself, it's what helped to save the world after all! 

But being the person you are - and for me, being the person I am - it's one of the hardest things in the world to say what you really feel, not just think. Did you know I've spent all week psyching myself up to say this! You know that friendship is important, and I know you care about your friends a lot, but you have to understand that with your heart if you're going to really care about them. You have to realise your friendship." 

Izzy had never had such a conversation before. Casual ones with his friends, yes, and many, many conversations founded on intellect and intelligence. Izzy was extremely intelligent. That is not the same as being wise, or understanding psychology. He struggled to understand what Jennai was saying. At the same time, he was surprised because he hadn't realised his father knew what he was feeling. 

Jennai understood his silence. He smiled suddenly. 

"Hey, Koushirou. I'll finish up that section of work you were doing. Why don't you go and get some sleep? Sleep deprivation can give you wrinkles and make you irritable." 

Izzy said, "now you sound like my mom more than my dad!" 

Jennai laughed, but Izzy wasn't really in a joking mood. He sighed and rubbed his hand over his eyes again. 

"Guess I could use a little shut-eye," he conceded, still with a serious expression on his face, "goodnight, Jennai." 

Jennai. Not 'father'. Jennai wanted to ruffle his son's hair or make some similar, affectionate gesture, but something told him that would not be a good idea, particularly now. Something in Izzy's face. 

*** 

Mrs Izumi sighed to herself as she was finishing stacking dishes. After having lost her son for months due to the digital world, he was suddenly gone again after only a week. They had been getting along so well the previous week, but since Izzy had found out about his real father, he had been working compulsively and spending a lot of time there. 

Of course it was totally natural he would want to spend time getting to know his real father, she admonished herself. But it did kind of feel like she was losing him all over again... 

Her husband did not seem to think there was any cause for alarm, but then he wasn't home as much as she was and didn't seem to realise that Izzy was doing NOTHING but visiting Jennai or working on his computer in his room. He was extremely happy that his old cousin and friend was apparently back from the grave, but disappointed too; apart from their initial reunion and a brief phone call, it had been surprisingly hard to contact him; he was always extremely busy with something vitally important, or simply didn't answer the phone. 

Most of all, Mrs Izumi couldn't shake the nagging worry that Izzy might have decided he loved his real family more than his adopted one. 

The problem with being a devoted housewife was that one's family was the centrality of one's life, and if anyone was acting strangely, it was hard felt. 

She shut the cupboard door and leaned against the kitchen counter. Her husband was at some business meeting, and the house seemed very empty, and quiet. She turned the TV on just to have a background sound and sat on the couch, looking at the screen without really seeing it, sitting ill at ease. 

No way around it; she was worried about Izzy. She was trying to treat him as an adult, as he certainly seemed to deserve that, but really she just wanted to hug him to her, tuck him in at night and sing a lullaby as she used to, then sit by his bed until he fell asleep, just watching him. 

It was laughable to think of doing such a thing now, of course. As a younger child, Izzy had craved affection, now he seemed very polite and distant; the model child, but one who was difficult to mother. 

"So this is the sort of thing you watch when nobody else is present!" 

She was startled out of her thoughts; she was still looking at the TV without seeing it, and hadn't even heard the door open. 

On the TV was some mindless action film; currently, a muscled, tough-looking shirtless man was stumbling along clutching one shoulder, covered in bruises, nursing gaping wounds, but still conscious and thus able to run and handle heavy arms. He turned and fired into the bushes behind him. Mrs Izumi hadn't even registered that she was watching it. 

"Izzy," she said, surprised, "I thought you were sleeping at J- your father's house tonight." 

"I am," said Izzy. 

"Isn't it becoming a little late at night to drop back here, then? Did you forget something?" 

"No, I'm staying here. Who do you think my father is?" 

He jumped onto the couch beside her and sat back. He didn't seem to want to say anything else, but she felt a little smile inside. They sat and watched the rest of the movie, Izzy constantly commenting on how unrealistic this aspect or that was, how this effect ought never to have happened, how this was against some scientific law... it was just like normal. 

In the end, he actually did fall asleep on the couch, and Mrs Izumi had to carry him to bed, and did sit watching him for some time. Funny that someone so short, and who looked so young when he was asleep, could house a mind that even she couldn't understand. She bent over, kissed his forehead, and left the room, still smiling. 

   [1]: mailto:leto@nysa.cx



	6. "My sister is WHAT?!"

After the Storm, part 6 **After the Storm**  
by [Leto][1]  
Part 6

~~Kari~~ 

Kari was afraid. 

Nobody else seemed to notice anything. Nobody ever commented, or pointed, or acted like anything was out of the ordinary. 

But the Digimon were still there, just like they were before she went into the digital world. 

She'd been beginning to relax, as she hadn't seen any Digimon for several hours. But then, down at the beach, a Monochromon had come lumbering out of the water. Nobody else seemed to be able to see it. When she had moved over to it, it didn't seem to register that she was there either. When it walked right through Mimi and back into the sea without sinking very deeply into the water, she realised. 

There was still a link between herself and the digital world. What she was seeing was the Digimon as if they were in their own world, and to them, they thought they were. It was almost like one dimension of reality superimposed on another, although of course Kari didn't think of it in those words. She could just somehow tell how it was. 

Ever since she saw a DemiDevimon fly up through her floor and up through her ceiling one night, she took to sleeping in her parents' room. That was the one place where she had never seen any Digimon. She could see monsters on TV in news reports; some of them were still responsible for natural disasters. 

Her dreams offered no comfort. The main difference between them and reality was that in dreams, the Digimon were fully aware that she was there, and keen to attack. 

Tai had problems of his own to work out. She knew that. She didn't want to burden anyone else with what she saw. 

But then, the next Monday morning, she couldn't help letting it slip. 

Tai and herself were getting ready for school. Their mother was setting out breakfast, Kari was almost dressed, and Tai was groaning like a beached whale and still muttering things like "do I have to get up" (or "mrrrfhgup" as it sounded), trying to muster up the will to drag himself out of bed. The smell of good food sufficed, and suddenly he was leaping up, pawing through his wardrobe throwing clothes all over the floor to find something to wear, then throwing it on, running out to the living room and tripping neatly over Miko. 

"Ow," he croaked. Kari giggled and sat down at the table. 

Her brother still hadn't changed that much. She smiled a little and started to eat, feeling a little relaxed after a good night's sleep - the first in over a week. 

There was suddenly a horrible screech and Seadramon's long serpentine neck arched through the wall of their house, its cruel, sleek head hesitating just by Tai's head. Tai didn't notice anything, of course, and would have continued to shovel food down if Kari hadn't screamed and jumped back. She tripped over her chair and landed painfully on her back. 

"Kari!" shouted Tai and their mother in unison, and Tai jumped from his own chair (spilling food everywhere in the process). Kari was sobbing now. All things aside, she was really just a little kid. 

"Kari, what's wrong?" asked Tai, sounding frantic. 

"Shhh, Kari, it's okay," said Mrs Kamiya, putting her arms around Kari. But Kari didn't want this, she pushed her away and pointed. 

"Look," she said, sounding almost angry through her tears, "can't you see it?!" 

Seadramon seemed to smile coldly at her before turning its head and sniffing the air. Its long body flicked and suddenly it was gone, diving down through the floorboards. A moment later, a Divermon came swimming frantically through the air with Seadramon in hot pursuit, roaring and showing all his teeth. 

"See what?" asked Tai blankly. 

"Oh honey," said Mrs Kamiya, "there's nothing there. Did you have another bad dream?" 

"No!" said Kari loudly, "no, there's a thing that kinda looks like MetalSeadramon here, and he's chasing a Divermon!" 

Mrs Kamiya looked a little blank and Tai sighed. 

"Kari, it's just your imagination," he said gently, "Mimi said she got the same sort of thing - flashbacks." 

"No," she protested, "I know it's not flashbacks! I haven't seen this Digimon before, except... on TV." 

"What?" asked Tai, "what do you mean, on TV?" 

"Don't you remember, when you came home for a day with Koromon?" 

"Oh yeah! Hm, you have a better memory than I do, I don't remember what Digimon we saw that day except for Ogremon..." 

The two monsters were gone from sight now and Kari had calmed down. Her mother patted her shoulder awkwardly and then moved to clean up the dishes Tai had spilled. Her kids talked about Digiworld sometimes and it made her feel left out and a little afraid. She felt it would be best for Tai - who obviously understood things better than she could - to deal with it. She hated feeling so helpless. 

"Tai, I can see into the digiworld," said Kari, "I can see all the Digimon still." 

"What?!" 

"I don't know why, but they won't go away!" 

Tai was very obviously at a loss. 

"Well, I... what can... I mean... that's weird." 

He hugged his sister and Kari nearly started to cry again. But she would be brave. For Gatomon's sake, if nothing else. 

"Let's go to school," said Kari finally, sounding resigned. 

"Huh?! Oh yeah, school! Sure! Um... yeah, let's go!" 

Tai grabbed up his and Kari's bags and ran towards the door, glad to see her being more sensible than he was. He turned to say something, still moving, and tripped over Miko again. 

"I swear that cat lies in wait for me!" fumed Tai. Kari smiled a little and went to help him up. 

The two walked to school together. Kari kept up a commentary in a monotone. 

"Wow, there are lots out today," she said, "there's a whole lot of Yokomon in that person's garden there. They look like they're doing some kind of weird dance... Oh, I'm not sure what that Digimon is, looks mean though... it's sitting very still on that person's fence. And there's a Digimon with a big drill on its face, looks weird! OH!" 

"What?" asked Tai, who was becoming more and more unnerved. Kari ran a few steps away from him to peer under a mailbox. 

"I thought I saw Gomamon!" she said, "but I guess it couldn't have been the same one..." 

"You never know," said Tai helplessly. 

"But I guess he wouldn't really be Gomamon 'cos of Izzy, would he?" 

"Izzy! That's it! We'll go to Jennai's after school today!" said Tai. 

"Okay," she said nervously, remembering how he had seemed so mad at her before. 

*** 

"Should we knock?" asked Kari nervously. 

Tai opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it again. 

They were standing outside Jennai's house, and from behind the heavy wooden door came the sound of shouting - muffled and difficult to make out, but shouting nonetheless. The two kids had been standing outside for five minutes, listening, and were a little unsure of what to do. 

Suddenly, the door was flung open, nearly braining Tai, and Mr Izumi held the door open, shouting back into the house, "I'm nowhere NEAR finished, you'll be hearing from us again!" 

Mrs Izumi ran out past him, in tears. Her husband put a hand on her shoulder and led her away. Neither had seemed to register that Tai or Kari were there. 

Tai ran into the house, with Kari trailing reluctantly behind, closing the door behind her. They crept through the house until they found Jennai, who was sitting at the desk, head in hands, his dark silver hair hanging over his face. 

He glanced up, startled, at the sound of Tai's entrance. (The boy was rarely quiet or subtle in anything, even when trying.) Jennai quickly rubbed his face and looked levelly at the two children. 

"Well, now, what brings you two here?" he said pleasantly. 

Tai wasn't going to accept that. "What was all that about?" 

"All what?" 

"Izzy's parents running out... you sitting here looking depressed... all that shouting..." 

Jennai sighed. "Family problems. I suppose they'll work themselves out soon enough." 

"Don't give me that! I want to know what's going on! You and Izzy have been acting kinda weird." 

Jennai's eyebrow twitched. "Tai, you can be quite a rude kid." 

"Sometimes that's the only way to get answers." 

"I suppose you know that Izzy has been contemplating changing his last name to mine. And there are... issues relating to legal guardianship of Izzy. And of course we have been working very hard on the Digimon project..." 

Tai looked unconvinced. 

"Tai, you needn't probe, it's really none of your business and I prefer not to disclose personal matters." 

"But the Izumi NEVER get mad!" 

"Taichi Kamiya!" 

Tai blinked, alarmed. Very few people called him by his full name. He didn't know what the digital world's guardian was so upset about, but for once had the good sense to shut up. The two looked at each other for a few moments, as though sizing each other up. 

Kari finally broke the silence. "Perhaps we should come back another time, Tai. I don't think Izzy's here anyway. It's really no big deal... I guess..." 

"Why DID you come?" asked Jennai, "more problems? Seems like there are problems with everything, lately." He looked tired. 

"I think this is a bad time," said Kari, really not wanting to dump more problems on anyone, "it really doesn't matter, I can -" 

"Kari's been seeing Digimon in the real world," said Tai. 

Jennai's whole expression changed. His jaw literally dropped. 

"What do you mean?!" 

"Well," said Kari, "it's like I can see them but nobody else can, and they can't see me. And it's almost like I can see them like they're in their own world. Like I could see a sea dragon Digimon swimming, but it was swimming through floorboards and stuff like they weren't even there." 

Jennai looked almost excited. "How long has this been happening, Kari?" 

"Well," she said, "since the day Tai left for summer camp. And all the time since we came back from the digital world. But before them, sometimes if I closed my eyes I could see Digimon. And when I dreamed." 

"Remarkable!" said Jennai, face brightening. 

Tai looked unimpressed. "Remarkable? It's not a good thing, you know! Wouldn't it scare YOU half to death if you suddenly saw huge monsters appearing everywhere?" 

"Oh, I didn't mean that," said Jennai, "but you know, there's an old legend that speaks of this..." 

"Why do I get a bad feeling whenever you mention another legend or prophecy," muttered Tai. 

"When the powerful light is released from the clutches of darkness," quoted Jennai, "in the diverging of two worlds, the Guardian of Light will emerge." 

"In plain English?" asked Tai. 

"My theory is, when Gatomon and Kari's crest were released from the clutches of Myotismon, something powerful must have happened, possibly something we didn't even realise, or attributed to something else. Perhaps the digital world was never meant to be fully seperated from the real one - after all, there were gates between them, and the health of one world affects the health of the other." 

"Our worlds are joined now? Does that mean we can go back to the digital world?" 

"Not that kind of join. Not a physical bond between worlds, but one of light." 

"What do you mean, exactly?" asked Kari, with one hand on her chest where her crest had been. 

Jennai was careful with his words. "If my hunch is correct - and my hunches generally are - then you, Kari, may well be the force that is connecting the two worlds." 

Kari cocked her head to one side, not seeming too alarmed by this awesome statement. Tai, by contrast, was silently freaking out. Jennai continued. 

"It may explain many things. You are aware that you were the only one the light, the overruling, overseeing powers of the digital world were able to communicate through. Light was channeled through your crest. It could explain your affiliation with Digimon, your empathy with them, and your connection to the digital world. Even your name is appropriate." 

She nodded, trying to understand all the words he was using. 

"Remember when you and Koromon came back to this world for a day, Tai?" asked Kari. Tai nodded. She continued, "remember how I said I thought I'd been in the digital world before? Well, I went there every time I was asleep. I couldn't find Salamon, though." 

"You know, Kari," said Jennai, "I am not acting as guardian of the digital world any longer, and that world ought not to be left without an acting guardian for very long. I realise why I was allowed to return to this world." 

"Why?" she whispered. 

"Because you, unlike me, were chosen for the role by destiny... Because you are the new guardian of the digital world, Kari." 

Tai made a strange choking noise, but Kari seemed more resigned. 

"Does that mean..." she began, "does that mean... I have to..." 

"You don't have to leave this world, Kari," said Jennai, seeming to understand, "your existence maintains the balance of both worlds. You are guardian of this world too, you know." 

At this stage, there was a loud 'bang' as Tai fainted. 

"Tai!" cried Kari, alarmed. She bent down and put a hand on his cheek. Jennai laughed. 

"He'll be alright," he said, "it's not every day you find out that your little sister is probably the most important person in the world." 

Kari blushed. "I'm no more important than anyone else," she said, "but I gotta say this stuff you're saying somehow doesn't surprise me all that much. It's like I almost knew it already..." 

"That's perfectly understandable," said Jennai, "you have been in the digital world for around half of your life." 

Kari hadn't thought of it that way, but he was probably right. Babies sleep for a long time, and she was only young. 

"Is there anything I have to do, to be this Guardian of Light?" she asked softly. 

"Only this: maintain the balance." 

She blinked. 

"Kari, so long as you're a good person, the two worlds will be harmonious, and there will be peace." 

"Does that mean I wasn't a good person before?" asked Kari, "because before, Devimon and Etemon and Myotismon and the Dark Masters were causing trouble..." 

"It was different, Kari. Everything was imbalanced then. When you reached the age where you were awake for much longer than you were asleep, you visited the digital world less often than you were in this world, and so things became imbalanced. Also, you had not yet discovered your crest or become joined with Gatomon. The time when you first went to the digital world while awake was a turning point. It was the time when things could begin to happen." 

"So..." 

"So, to maintain the balance between the worlds, you must be in each world. As the Guardian of Light, you alone can go to the digital world while awake." 

"Does that mean the digital world is in danger now?" asked Kari, worried. 

"No, because Gatomon is like your second self, and represents you. While she is in the digital world, and you are in the real world, it balances things. It is as though you are in both worlds at once. And you can both see into each world." 

"I think I understand," said Kari awkwardly, "so when Gatomon comes to this world, does that mean there's gonna be a big problem? I mean, if we keep the worlds balanced somehow by each being in one world, if we're both in the same one, won't that be bad?" 

Jennai's expression sobered. "That could be a problem. I am not sure. I will try to carry out more research. Your ability to see into the digital world while awake is most interesting. I suppose it is so that you may act as a guardian, overseer and protector of the Digimon even while here. 

You are the Guardian of Light and would sense an imbalance far more than I could. But, I ought to tell you something, Kari. Izzy and I have had great difficulty reconfiguring Gatomon, and she ought to be the most easy one. After all, her digivolved form is similar to a human, and as Gatomon she is the creature most resembling a human of any of the Digimon. Yet we haven't been able to do anything with her. We haven't been able to make her like a human." 

Kari understood, and nodded, tears running silently down her cheeks. "That means I can't be with Gatomon forever... except in here," and she pressed her hand to her heart again. 

Jennai smiled sympathetically and said, "isn't that the most important place to be with someone?" 

"Jennai, why do you still do so much to help us?" asked Kari suddenly, "I know you didn't like being the guardian of the digital world, but you're still acting like it, a little." 

He looked at his hands. "I was the one who helped with some of your Digimon. It wouldn't be fair of me to make such perfect partners for you all, and then make you leave them forever." 

Tai groaned, coming to, and Kari started. By his head, she could see Gatomon, looking at her. And she knew that her Digimon partner could see her. 

The two smiled at each other, a little sadly. Kari reached out her hand and Gatomon reached out her paw. They touched without feeling. 

   [1]: mailto:leto@nysa.cx



	7. Misc comments

After the Storm, continued Well, I gotta say, this is most likely gonna be the last thing I post here. Sorry, but I've been spending too much time writing fanfics and I can't afford to. It's been a lot of fun and I thank you all very much for your support and nice words.

I wrote a lot because I knew someday I'd have to give it up and I wanted to get out as much as I could before then.

Anyway, sorry I can't finish After the Storm but here are bits and pieces I wrote for it, plus notes, just so you can get some idea of what was GOING to happen. Sorry it's kind of bitty.

**After the Storm, continued**  
by [Leto][1]

**_There are soccer tryouts, and Tai convinces Izzy and Matt to both have a try. The kids' various situations are revisited. Izzy takes on Jennai's last name, but still lives with his adopted parents. Kari visits the digital world a couple of times. Izzy and Jennai continue work. Here's a miscellaneous scene that was going to be in there somewhere. ^_^;;_**

Tai knocked on the door. He knew Matt was in there, he could hear him shouting something, but he couldn't make out the words. They sounded disjointed and angry. He suddenly became worried and knocked again, harder, but still no answer. Well, he wasn't going to take that. Tai opened the door and went in, trying to be quiet so he could hear what Matt was saying before he heard him. 

He crept up to the door that led to the Ishida's living room and peeked around cautiously. His eyes widened. 

The television was on, blaring music. And Matt was standing on the couch, glaring at the screen. 

"I won't forgive you!" yelled Matt, "I won't forgive you!" 

From the TV set, the screen of which Tai couldn't see from where he was, came a menacing laugh. Tai was concerned. Who was his friend shouting at with such venom in his voice? 

"Moon Eternal, make up!" 

Tai blinked as Matt jumped off the couch and started running around the room waving his arms in the air. He looked... weird. There was music playing from the TV set, and when it crescendoed, Matt struck a pose. 

Someone on the TV shouted out something in a shrill voice, some speech about justice and punishment in place of the moon. Matt spun around to echo the speech and ended up face-to-face with Tai. 

"Hi," said Tai. 

**Notes on humanified Digimon:**

Goma  
Tenjin  
Tori  
Lilly  
Angel  
Arthur  
Pat  
Gabe  
  
one is very demanding, expects too much of their friend  
Gabe is chased by one girl who wants to go out with him  
Angel babysits Kari... finds things hard!  
Arthur plays basketball  
Lilly quite popular, eclipsing Mimi  
Tenjin similar to Izzy  
Goma kind of a punk  
Tori demanding one? little childish  
Pat...?  
  
agumon is very sensitive to the cold and can't hear very well  
gabumon loves the cold  
gomamon can hold his breath for, like, twenty minutes  
tentomon has electronics ability and can puncture cans ^_^.  
gatomon hates water  
biyomon has to struggle to keep her wings lifeless, and has urge to fly... sometimes does soar  
palmon eats like a bird, loves sunbathing  
  
**_Here's the scene where the Digimon finally come to the kids' world. I wrote this before I wrote Kari's part, where she finds that Gatomon won't be coming to her world. I hadn't decided that then._**

"Well, kids, it's the moment of truth. I should say something - they are still essentially Digimon, not humans. They have some characteristics of their Digimon selves. It is highly unlikely that they should ever digivolve, as there would be no need to in this world, but we can just hope they don't, because their current selves have been reconfigured already, and who knows what would happen if they changed forms? 

Most Digimon have retained some properties of their previous bodies, but they ought to be able to pass for fairly normal human children. 

They've spent most of today getting used to acting like humans, learning how to hold pens or walk properly in the real world. That sort of thing. We also went shopping for some appropriate outfits. They do not have human names yet, but they can choose their own if they like." 

"Hurry up," said Tai, bursting with impatience, "are they around or aren't they?" 

"Come along, then." 

Tai was bouncing up and down on his toes, Sora and Matt were both shaking slightly, both with restrained impatience, desperation. Mimi was squeezing Joe's hand very tightly, and he was squeezing back, until all their knuckles were very white. Izzy was biting his lip, TK jumping up and down and Kari wide-eyed but maintaining her composure. 

Jennai led them through a couple of doors to his living room. As the door opened, eight children leapt up, instantly turning to face their old friends. 

And then there was much shouting, and hugging, and grabbing each other. A few tears, a lot of laughing, and even a broken vase as Gomamon tackled Joe against a cabinet in a big bear hug. 

After the initial excitement, Jennai had all the children settle down and be quiet while he spoke of more important things. 

"First, you should know about the things your Digimon have that differentiate them from normal humans." 

The kids nodded obediently, and he began. 

Agumon sat awkwardly next to Tai, knees drawn up under his chin. He was wearing a basketball shirt and tracksuit pants over his tall, gangly frame. His hair was short and red and fell back in waves. He still had claws on hands and feet, but that could easily be remedied, and was not as drastic as some of the other Digimon-human's problems. His ears were also very small, not much larger than those he'd had as a dinosaur. 

Biyomon sat in Sora's lap, her expression as though it were caught in mid-laugh. She was pretty with a soft, kind face and thick, pink hair. She wore a light blue cotton dress. At first glance, she seemed perfectly human - until she turned around. Two pink, feathered wings spread from her back, holes cut in her dress to accomodate them. This could be a problem. Her wings had grown to accomodate her new, larger size, and were perfectly functional, but they wouldn't do much to promote the idea of her being an ordinary human girl. 

Tentomon stood resting one hand on the couch - or what should have been a hand. Instead, three long silver, metal claws stretched from each hand - two fingers and a thumb. His feet bore similar protrusions, but then they were easier to disguise. His skin wasn't human skin, it was very hard. Tentomon was also wearing glasses, and had black hair in spikes, similar to Izzy's style. 

Gomamon lay on his stomach, knees bent so his lower legs were sticking into the air, swinging back and forth. His appearance gave Joe a shock; he looked more like the type to give him a hard time at school than to be his best friend. Wearing a black leather jacket and jeans, Gomamon had wild, rather long reddish-orange hair in spikes all over his head, and the sort of carefree, cheerful expression that everyone had anticipated. But his hands, like Tentomon's, weren't quite human - in his case, they were slightly webbed between the fingers, with purple markings on the hand and short black claws. Jennai also said that Gomamon's respiratory system was somewhat unusual for a human, but that oughtn't prove a problem - the opposite, really. 

Palmon sat with her legs neatly folded under her, and hands clasped on her lap. For some reason, Mimi hadn't expected her friend to be particularly pretty, but Palmon resembled her Ultimate form - dainty and slender - only a little younger. She had a pointed pixie face and long green hair, which Jennai said was not normal hair, but actually contained chlorophyll. He said that if Palmon went into the sun a lot, she would not need to eat very much, as she could photosynthesise. She also had unusual eyes - most of the Digimon could get away with having similar eyes to the ones they had, but hers were dark and oval-shaped, like her normal ones. She wore a green tank top and a long pink skirt. 

Gabumon lay with his back against the couch and his legs stretched out, clad in a similar outfit to the one Matt had worn in the digital world, only with a midnight blue shirt and black jeans. He had light, wispy blue hair that fell down his face and had to be restrained in a loose ponytail. He wore a serious but very pleased expression. Gabumon had no visible abnormalities, but Jennai did warn that a potential werewolf ought not to be outside during a full moon. 

Patamon was sitting on the couch, continually glancing at his hands as though he wasn't used to seeing them there in his Rookie stage. Indeed, he wasn't; Patamon was the last Digimon to be reconfigured for transportation to the real world. Patamon looked remarkably like TK, except that his hair was light brown and on two points it stuck out strangely. When TK tried to smooth the hair down, it was solid underneath - there was skin under the hair, the beginnings - or remainders - of wings. 

All of the Digimon-humans - or humons as Matt dubbed them - still had their same voices, and similar eyes, and most were similar in age to their digidestined friends. 

This is where Gatomon stood out. Perhaps it was because she was a Champion instead of Rookie, or because her life had been so different from the others, and made her grow up faster. Perhaps it was because of her identity as Angewomon. Whatever the reason, Gatomon was easily eight years older than her child charge - a pretty blonde teenager of around 17 - with a long white ringed tail protruding from her lower back. 

"We must decide what is to happen now," said Gennai, "you new 'humons' will need names, some sort of plausible background, and homes." 

"Well, Tai," said Agumon, "could you give me a name?" 

"Try... I dunno... Agumon... what sounds like Agumon... A a a a a... Aaron... Aamon... Angus... nah, you look more like an Arthur. Art for short."

"Okay," said Agumon/Arthur easily. 

"What do you think, Matt?" asked Gabumon. 

"Gabe, of course," said Matt, "that's an easy name to remember too." 

"Sora, what's a good human name for me?" 

"Hm... how about Tori?" 

"Tori! That's a pretty name. What does it mean?" 

"It means bird, I think." 

"That's great." 

"What do you think, TK?" 

"Pat's a human name, and it sounds kinda like Patamon, right?" 

"It does?" 

"Yeah!" 

"Well, I don't wanna change my name, I'll just call myself Goma." 

"That's a weird name." 

"It's no weirder than the name Joe!" 

"Hey." 

"Palmon, I think you look a lot like Lillymon, so wouldn't Lilly be a good name?" 

"Perfect, just what I was thinking!" 

"There's only one name I can think of for you, Gatomon, and that's Angel." 

"Is that a human name?" 

"Sure is." 

"Thanks, Kari!" 

"How about me, Izzy?" 

"Ugh... I don't have much experience in choosing which name would suit a person. What do you wish to be called?" 

"I don't know people's names." 

"Jennai, what do you think?" 

"How about Tenjin? It has some resemblence to Tentomon, and it was the name of my older brother, as you know." 

"Yeah, sounds good." 

**_Later, as the kids walk to school with their Digimon for the first time._**

"I should warn you, Palmon," said Mimi. 

"Lilly," corrected Lilly, "you keep forgetting." 

"I'm sorry! Lilly, I should warn you, there are a few of my friends who are kind of mad at me at the moment and things might be a little bit awkward. I have to apologise in advance if you should get caught in the middle at all." 

"That's okay," said Lilly comfortably, "I'm almost kind of relieved! I was worried you might not have time for me with all your friends in this world!" 

"Well, just so long as you know!" 

"Oh no!" gasped Lilly. 

"NOW what's wrong?" asked Mimi. 

"This poor dandelion!" 

"What, you mean that ugly yellow flower there? What's wrong with it?" 

"It's not ugly at all, Mimi, and what's wrong with it is that it's got weeds choking it all around! How horrible!" 

"Dandelions ARE weeds," muttered Joe, but nobody was listening. 

"Well, who cares about some dandelion?" 

"Flowers have feelings too, Mimi! I had a good friend who was a dandelion once!" 

Everyone sweatdropped. 

"So, pull the weeds away and let's get going," said Mimi, impatiently. 

"But... I had a good friend who was a weed too!" 

Everyone facefaulted. 

"This is a real moral dilemma for me, Mimi!" 

"Well, you can agonise over it during school, but if we don't get going soon we're really going to be late!" 

Mimi took Lilly's arm and led her away, Lilly staring back at the garden, deep in thought. 

"Just so long as we pass this garden again on the way back from school!" she insisted. 

"Alright, alright!" 

**More miscellaneous thoughts/ideas**:

-Tai ends up dying in one of his stupid dramatic risk-taking adventures?  
-Patamon (or someone) wasn't configured perfectly and fades out or something  
-Gabe/Gabumon in moonlight... Katrina, Mimi's "friend", wants to go out with him and tries to get him to go out on a certain night, although he doesn't like her, she tricks him into leaving the house and he turns into a werewolf-Garurumon-type thing, and terrifies her ^_^.  
-someone digivolves  
  
-Joe decides to study medicine after all, a course which can be extended to a psychiatry course, 'cos he's a good listener  
-Kari goes insane?  
-Tenjin/Tentomon is adopted by Jennai

   [1]: mailto:leto@nysa.cx



End file.
